Return is correct but instructor disagrees

<Below this line, add a link to the exact exercise that you are stuck at.>

<In what way does your code behave incorrectly? Include ALL error messages.>

Test case number: 1

Your function return is NOT correct but your printed output is correct.

For example when your function is called as shown below:

calculate_expenses(‘expenses_very_long.txt’)

Your function returns:

[(‘bread’, ‘$1.90’), (‘chips’, ‘$2.54’), (‘chocolate’, ‘$21.95’), (‘goods’, ‘$4.69’), (‘insurance’, ‘$415.00’), (‘loan’, ‘$195.00’), (‘milk’, ‘$2.35’)]

The returned variable type from your function is: list

Instructor’s function returns:

[(‘bread’, ‘$1.90’), (‘chips’, ‘$2.54’), (‘chocolate’, ‘$21.95’), (‘goods’, ‘$4.69’), (‘insurance’, ‘$220.00’), (‘loan’, ‘$390.00’), (‘milk’, ‘$2.35’)]

The returned variable type from instructor’s function is: list

<What do you expect to happen instead?>
I do not want the error.
Here is the actual question.

Write a function named calculate_expenses that receives a filename as argument. The file contains the information about a person’s expenses on items. Your function should return a list of tuples sorted based on the name of the items. Each tuple consists of the name of the item and total expense of that item as shown below:

milk,2.35
bread , 1.95
chips , 2.54
milk , 2.38
milk,2.31
bread, 1.90

Notice that each line of the file only includes an item and the purchase price of that item separated by a comma. There may be spaces before or after the item or the price. Then your function should read the file and return a list of tuples such as:
[(‘bread’, ‘$3.85’), (‘chips’, ‘$2.54’), (‘milk’, ’7.04')] Notes: Tuples are sorted based on the item names i.e. bread comes before chips which comes before milk. The total expenses are strings which start with a and they have two digits of accuracy after the decimal point.
Hint: Use “${:.2f}” to properly create and format strings for the total expenses.



def  calculate_expenses(filename):    
    # Make a connection to the file
    file_pointer = open(filename, 'r')
    data = file_pointer.readlines()
    pata=[]
    for line in data:        
        line=removes_spaces_gives_list(line)####comes from function at step 1 at the bottom        
        pata.append(line)   
################################
    l=len(pata)
    outer_list=[] 
    i=0
    while i<l:
        j=i+1
        total=float(pata[i][1])
        
        while j<l:
            if pata[i][0]==pata[j][0]:
                total=total+float(pata[j][1])                
                pata.remove(pata[j])
                l=len(pata)
                j=j                
            else:
                j=j+1

        total='${0:.2f}'.format(total)
        inner_tpl=(pata[i][0],total)
        outer_list.append(inner_tpl)
        i=i+1    
    list_sorted=sorted(outer_list)
    return list_sorted
    
#################################
def removes_spaces_gives_list(dhago):    
    dhago=dhago.strip('\n')
    sago=dhago.split(',')
    sata=[]
    for item in sago:
        pitem=item.rstrip()
        kitem=pitem.lstrip()
        sata.append(kitem)
    return sata
###############closes file##############
    file_pointer.close()