Python while loop is skipped

Question

I'm trying to make a countdown clock and when I run it the last while loop is skipped and the loop exits completely. What could be the problem?

def countdown():
 print("Give the time for the countdown separated by a space.")
 time.sleep(0.3)
 print("If none just type in 00")
 hours_time = int(input("Hours:"))
 min_time = int(input("Minutes:"))
 sec_time = int(input("Seconds:"))
 print("Countdown will run for:{}Hr {}min {}sec".format(hours_time, min_time, sec_time))
 while (sec_time != 00):
 print("{}Hr {}min {}sec".format(hours_time, min_time, sec_time))
 time.sleep(1)
 sec_time = sec_time - 1
 while (min_time != 00 and sec_time == 00):
 print("{}Hr {}min 00sec".format(hours_time, min_time))
 time.sleep(1)
 min_time = min_time - 1
 sec_time = sec_time + 59
 while (hours_time != 00 and min_time == 00 and sec_time == 00):
 print("{}Hr 00min 00sec".format(hours_time))
 time.sleep(1)
 hours_time = hours_time - 1
 min_time = min_time + 59
 sec_time = sec_time + 59
countdown()

• MisterMiyagi: sec_time == 00 cannot be true in the innermost loop. The containing loop already checks sec_time == 00, then does sec_time = sec_time + 59 – meaning sec_time is 59 before the innermost loop is entered.

Answer 1

You only need one while loop. Decrease the seconds by 1 each time, and if it goes below zero, then adjust minutes accordingly, and similarly regarding hours:

 while sec_time != 0 or min_time != 0 or hours_time != 0:
 print("{}Hr {}min {}sec".format(hours_time, min_time, sec_time))
 time.sleep(1)
 sec_time -= 1
 if sec_time < 0:
 sec_time += 60
 min_time -= 1
 if min_time < 0:
 min_time += 60
 hours_time -= 1

Answer 2

This uses format strings to make your time values have leading zeros:

seconds = (hours_time*60 + min_time)*60 + sec_time
while seconds != 0:
 m, s = divmod(seconds, 60)
 h, m = divmod(m, 60)
 print("{0:02d}Hr {1:02d}min {2:02d}sec".format(h,m,s))
 time.sleep(1)
 seconds = seconds - 1