hi tim thanks for the help acutally i dint tell u the whole problem i have list of lists, for ex
list1 =[ ['a','b','c','d','e'] , ['1','2','3','4'] , ['A','B','C','D'] ] and another list list2 = ['1','2','5',4] now am searching the items of list2 in list1 as below Found = True for i in list1: for j in i: if not list2[1] == j or not list2[2] == j: if not list2[0] == j: Found = False elif list2[0] == j: Found = True break now though it finds the the key in between and sets the "Found=True", but later in the next list of if one item doesnt match it sets again Found = False i hope am clear this time how to keep the Found = True for always if at all i find the item even once. thanks again in advance yogi -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list