code below allows user to input items until they press enter key to stop:
In [1]: items=[]
...: i=0
...: while 1:
...: i+=1
...: item=input('Enter item %d: '%i)
...: if item=='':
...: break
...: items.append(item)
...: print(items)
...:
Enter item 1: apple
Enter item 2: pear
Enter item 3: #press enter here
['apple', 'pear']
In [2]: