Loops in

About Loops

Python has two looping constructs. while loops for indefinite (uncounted) iteration and for loops for definite, (counted) iteration. The keywords break, continue, and else help customize loop behavior. range() and enumerate() help with loop counting and indexing.

While

while loops will continue to execute as long as the loop expression or "test" evaluates to True in a boolean context, terminating when it evaluates to False:

# Lists are considered "truthy" in a boolean context if they
# contain one or more values, and "falsy" if they are empty.

>>> placeholders = ["spam", "ham", "eggs", "green_spam", "green_ham", "green_eggs"]

>>> while placeholders:
...     print(placeholders.pop(0))
...
'spam'
'ham'
'eggs'
'green_spam'
'green_ham'
'green_eggs'

For

The basic for loop in Python is better described as a for each which cycles through the values of any iterable object, terminating when there are no values returned from calling next() (raising a StopIteration).

>>> word_list = ["bird", "chicken", "barrel", "bongo"]

>>> for word in word_list:
...    if word.startswith("b"):
...        print(f"{word.title()} starts with a B.")
...    else:
...        print(f"{word.title()} doesn't start with a B.")
...
'Bird starts with a B.'
'Chicken doesn\'t start with a B.'
'Barrel starts with a B.'
'Bongo starts with a B.'

Sequence Object range()

When there isn't a specific iterable given, the special range() sequence is used as a loop counter. range() requires an int before which to stop the sequence, and can optionally take start and step parameters. If no start number is provided, the sequence will begin with 0. range() objects are lazy (values are generated on request), support all common sequence operations, and take up a fixed amount of memory, no matter how long the sequence specified. Interestingly, range() is not an iterator, and can be used in many non-looping contexts where a sequence of numbers is needed.

# Here we use range to produce some numbers, rather than creating a list of them in memory.
# The values will start with 1 and stop *before* 7.

>>> for number in range(1, 7):
...    if number % 2 == 0:
...       print(f"{number} is even.")
...    else:
...       print(f"{number} is odd.")
'1 is odd.'
'2 is even.'
'3 is odd.'
'4 is even.'
'5 is odd.'
'6 is even.'

# range() can also take a *step* parameter.
# Here we use range to produce only the "odd" numbers, starting with 3 and stopping *before* 15.

>>> for number in range(3, 15, 2):
...    if number % 2 == 0:
...       print(f"{number} is even.")
...    else:
...       print(f"{number} is odd.")
...
'3 is odd.'
'5 is odd.'
'7 is odd.'
'9 is odd.'
'11 is odd.'
'13 is odd.'

Values and Indexes with enumerate()

If both values and indexes are needed, the built-in enumerate(<iterable>) will return an iterator over (index, value) pairs:

>>> word_list = ["bird", "chicken", "barrel", "apple"]

# *index* and *word* are the loop variables.
# Loop variables can be any valid python name.

>>> for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
...    if word.startswith("b"):
...        print(f"{word.title()} (at index {index}) starts with a B.")
...    else:
...        print(f"{word.title()} (at index {index}) doesn't start with a B.")
...
'Bird (at index 0) starts with a B.'
'Chicken (at index 1) doesn\'t start with a B.'
'Barrel (at index 2) starts with a B.'
'Apple (at index 3) doesn\'t start with a B.'


# The same method can be used as a "lookup" for pairing items between two lists.
# Of course, if the lengths or indexes don't line up, this doesn't work.

>>> word_list = ["cat", "chicken", "barrel", "apple", "spinach"]
>>> category_list = ["mammal", "bird", "thing", "fruit", "vegetable"]

>>> for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
...    print(f"{word.title()} is in category: {category_list[index]}.")
...
'Cat is in category: mammal.'
'Chicken is in category: bird.'
'Barrel is in category: thing.'
'Apple is in category: fruit.'
'Spinach is in category: vegetable.'

The enumerate(<iterable>) function can also be set to start the index count at a different number:

# Here, the index count will start at 1.
>>> for position, word in enumerate(word_list, start=1):
...    if word.startswith("b"):
...        print(f"{word.title()} (at position {position}) starts with a B.")
...    else:
...        print(f"{word.title()} (at position {position}) doesn't start with a B.")
...
'Bird (at position 1) starts with a B.'
'Chicken (at position 2) doesn\'t start with a B.'
'Barrel (at position 3) starts with a B.'
'Apple (at position 4) doesn\'t start with a B.'

Altering Loop Behavior

The continue keyword can be used to skip forward to the next iteration cycle:

word_list = ["bird", "chicken", "barrel", "bongo", "sliver", "apple", "bear"]

# This will skip *bird*, at index 0
for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
    if index == 0:
        continue
    if word.startswith("b"):
        print(f"{word.title()} (at index {index}) starts with a b.")

'Barrel (at index 2) starts with a b.'
'Bongo (at index 3) starts with a b.'
'Bear (at index 6) starts with a b.'

The break (like in many C-related languages) keyword can be used to stop the iteration and "break out" of the innermost enclosing loop:

>>>  word_list = ["bird", "chicken", "barrel", "bongo", "sliver", "apple"]

>>> for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
...    if word.startswith("b"):
...        print(f"{word.title()} (at index {index}) starts with a B.")
...    elif word == "sliver":
...       break
...    else:
...       print(f"{word.title()} doesn't start with a B.")
... print("loop broken.")
...
'Bird (at index 0) starts with a B.'
'Chicken doesn\'t start with a B.'
'Barrel (at index 2) starts with a B.'
'Bongo (at index 3) starts with a B.'
'loop broken.'

The loop else clause is unique to Python and can be used for "wrap up" or "concluding" actions when iteration has been exhausted. Statements following the else keyword will not execute if iteration terminates via break:

>>> word_list = ["bird", "chicken", "barrel", "bongo", "sliver", "apple"]

# Using enumerate to get both an index and a value.

>>> for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
...    word = word.title()
...    if word.startswith("B"):
...        print(f"{word} (at index {index}) starts with a B.")

...# This executes once *StopIteration* is raised and 
...# there are no more items to iterate through.
...# Note the indentation, which lines up with the for keyword.
...else:
...    print(f"Found the above b-words, out of {len(word_list)} words in the word list.")
...
'Bird (at index 0) starts with a B.'
'Barrel (at index 2) starts with a B.'
'Bongo (at index 3) starts with a B.'
'Found the above b-words, out of 6 words in the word list.'


# Terminating a loop via *break* will bypass the loop *else* clause

>>> for index, word in enumerate(word_list):
...    word = word.title()
...    if word.startswith("B"):
...       print(f"{word} (at index {index}) starts with a B.")
...    if word.startswith("S"):
...        print("Found an S, stopping iteration.")
...        break

... # This statement does not run, because a *break* was triggered.
... else:
...   print(f"Found the above b-words, out of {len(word_list)} words in the word list.")
...
'Bird (at index 0) starts with a B.'
'Barrel (at index 2) starts with a B.'
'Bongo (at index 3) starts with a B.'
'Found an S, stopping iteration.'