Please help me understand how to use global variables

[ichabod801]

Well, I don't understand line 17. Your output makes it seem that line 17 is printing each time through the loop. But in what you've posted, it's not indented under the loop, so it should only be printing once.

If that is a typo in what you posted, and it actually is indented under the loop, then yes: the function is returning the value each time through the loop, giving you what you need.