difflib.get_close_matches throw out names in a lis

Question

Here's an updated version from my previous question here. I'm adding to the code where if the get_close_matches name isn't the name of the person they wanted, then discard the closest match and re-run the function and grab the second-closest match (now first, since the function would throw out the first match).

Do you have any comments on how this can be written better? And work. >.>

Here's what I have so far:

def throwout(pickedName):
    employeeNames.remove(pickedName)
    pickedName = difflib.get_close_matches(userEmpName, employeeNames, 1)
    print(pickedName)
    userNameOK = input("Is this the name of the person you're looking for?\n\n Type 'Y' or 'N'.\n\n")



employeeNames = ['Colton','Jayne','Barb','Carlene','Dick','Despina']


employeeNames.sort()


userEmpName = input("Please enter the employee name you're searching for. We'll return the best match on record.")


pickedName = difflib.get_close_matches(userEmpName, employeeNames, 1)
print(pickedName)


userNameOK = input("Is this the name of the person you're looking for?\n\n Type 'Y' or 'N'.\n\n")


if userNameOK == "N" or "n":
    if pickedName in employeeNames:
        throwout(pickedName)
    else:
        break
else:
    break

Error for running out of names in the list:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Python33/employee1.py", line 64, in <module>
    print(userAnswer + " is the right choice.\n")
NameError: global name 'userAnswer' is not defined

I understand that to mean that since the list of names has no more names from removing them all, the global variable "userAnswer" is then undefined.

Answer 1

There is no need of creating a function to throw out the names from list as list.remove(name) does the same thing in a single line.

import difflib

employeeNames = ['Colton','Coltron','Colty','Jayne','Barb','Carlene','Dick','Despina']
employeeNames.sort()
userEmpName = raw_input("Please enter the employee name you're searching for. We'll return the best match on record.")

while True:
    global Answer
    pickedName = difflib.get_close_matches(userEmpName, employeeNames, 1)

    print(pickedName)
    print employeeNames

    if len(pickedName)==0:
        break

    userNameOK = raw_input("Is this the name of the person you're looking for?\n\n Type 'Y' or 'N'.\n\n")

    if (userNameOK=='n' or userNameOK=='N'):
        employeeNames.remove(pickedName[0])

    else:
        Answer=pickedName[0]
        break

print Answer+" is the right choice"

However using a global variable is generally bad practice so you can make a function to do all this thing and return the correct Answer

Also as employeeNames is modified every time a Name is removed from it should be better to create a copy of the list and work on that particular list