Python Loops

Python Loops.

In programming, loops are sequence of instructions that does a specific set of instructions or tasks based on some conditions and continue the tasks until it reach certain conditions.

It is seen that in programming, sometimes we need to write a set of instructions repeatedly – which is a tedious task and the processing also takes time. So in programming we use iteration technique to repeat the same or similar type of tasks based on the specified condition.

Statements are executed sequentially; but there sometimes occur such cases where programmers need to execute a block of code several times. The control structures of programming languages allow us to execute a statement or block of statement repeatedly.

Types Of Loops In Python

Python provides three types of looping techniques:

Python Loops

Loop	Description
for Loop	This is traditionally used when programmers have a piece of code and wanted to repeat that ‘n’ number of times.
while Loop	The loop gets repeated until certain Boolean condition is met.
Nested Loops	Programmers can use one loop inside another; i.e. they can use for loop inside while or vice – versa or for loop inside for loop or while inside while.

for Loop

The graphical representation of the logic behind for looping is shown below:

Figure – for loop Flowchart:

Syntax:

for iterating_var in sequence:
   //execute your code

Example 01:

#!/usr/bin/python

for x in range (0,3) :
    print 'Loop execution %d' % (x)

Output:

Loop execution 0
Loop execution 1
Loop execution 2

Example 02:

#!/usr/bin/python

for letter in 'TutorialsCloud': 
   print 'Current letter is:', letter

Output:

Current letter is : T
Current letter is : u
Current letter is : t
Current letter is : o
Current letter is : r
Current letter is : i
Current letter is : a
Current letter is : l
Current letter is : s
Current letter is : C
Current letter is : l
Current letter is : o
Current letter is : u
Current letter is : d

while Loop

The graphical representation of the logic behind while looping is shown below:

Figure – while loop Flowchart:

Syntax:

while expression:
   //execute your code

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

#initialize count variable to 1
count =1

while count < 6 :
    print count
    count+=1
#the above line means count = count + 1

Output:

1
2
3
4
5

Nested Loops

Syntax:

for iterating_var in sequence:
   for iterating_var in sequence:
      //execute your code
         //execute your code

Example:

for g in range(1, 6):
    for k in range(1, 3):
        print '%d * %d = %d' % ( g, k, g*k)

Output:

1 * 1 = 1
1 * 2 = 2
2 * 1 = 2
2 * 2 = 4
3 * 1 = 3
3 * 2 = 6
4 * 1 = 4
4 * 2 = 8
5 * 1 = 5
5 * 2 = 10

Loop Control Statements

These statements are used to change execution from its normal sequence.

Python supports three types of loop control statements:

Python Loop Control Statements

Control Statements	Description
Break statement	It is used to exit a while loop or a for loop. It terminates the looping & transfers execution to the statement next to the loop.
Continue statement	It causes the looping to skip the rest part of its body & start re-testing its condition.
Pass statement	It is used in Python to when a statement is required syntactically and programmer do not want to execute any code block or command.

Break statement

Syntax:

break

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

count = 0

while count <= 100: print (count) count += 1 if count >= 3 :
      break

Output:

0
1
2

Continue statement

Syntax:

continue

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

for x in range(10):
   #check whether x is even
   if x % 2 == 0:
      continue
   print x

Output:

1
3
5
7
9

Pass Statement

Syntax:

pass

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

for letter in 'TutorialsCloud': 
   if letter == 'C':
      pass
      print 'Pass block'
   print 'Current letter is:', letter

Output:

Current letter is : T
Current letter is : u
Current letter is : t
Current letter is : o
Current letter is : r
Current letter is : i
Current letter is : a
Current letter is : l
Current letter is : s
Pass block
Current letter is : C
Current letter is : l
Current letter is : o
Current letter is : u
Current letter is : d

---