Python : Control Structures

Types of Flow in a Program

• There are Three Main Types of a flow in a computer program
Sequential : in which instructions are executed successfully

Conditional : in which certain block of statements are executed if the

condition is True or False correspondingly

Repetition : in which a block of statements are repeated over a

collection of objects or until a specific condition is met.
 x=5
Conditional Steps
Yes
x < 10 ?

No print('Smaller') Program:
Output:
x = 5
Yes if x < 10: Smaller
x > 20 ? print('Smaller') Finis
if x > 20:
No print('Bigger') print('Bigger')

print('Finis')

print('Finis')
 Comparison Operators
• Boolean expressions ask a Python Meaning
question and produce a Yes or No < Less than
result which we use to control
program flow <= Less than or Equal to
== Equal to
• Boolean expressions using >= Greater than or Equal to
comparison operators evaluate to
> Greater than
True / False or Yes / No
!= Not equal
• Comparison operators look at
variables but do not change the Remember: “=” is used for assignment.
variables
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole
 Comparison Operators
x = 5
if x == 5 :
print('Equals 5') Equals 5
if x > 4 :
print('Greater than 4') Greater than 4
if x >= 5 :
Greater than or Equals 5
print('Greater than or Equals 5')
if x < 6 : print('Less than 6') Less than 6
if x <= 5 :
print('Less than or Equals 5') Less than or Equals 5
if x != 6 :
print('Not equal 6') Not equal 6
 One-Way Decisions
x = 5 Yes
print('Before 5') Before 5 x == 5 ?
if x == 5 :
print('Is 5') Is 5 print('Is 5’)
No
print('Is Still 5')
Is Still 5
print('Third 5')
print('Afterwards 5')
Third 5 print('Still 5')
print('Before 6') Afterwards 5
if x == 6 : Before 6 print('Third 5')
print('Is 6')
print('Is Still 6')
print('Third 6')
print('Afterwards 6') Afterwards 6
 Indentation
• Increase indent indent after an if statement or for statement (after : )

• Maintain indent to indicate the scope of the block (which lines are affected
by the if/for)

• Reduce indent back to the level of the if statement or for statement to

indicate the end of the block

• Blank lines are ignored - they do not affect indentation

• Comments on a line by themselves are ignored with regard to indentation

Think About begin/end Blocks
x = 5
if x > 2 :
print('Bigger than 2')
print('Still bigger')
print('Done with 2')

for i in range(5) :
print(i)
if i > 2 :
print('Bigger than 2')
print('Done with i', i)
print('All Done')
 Nested x>1
yes

Decisions n
o print('More than one’)

x = 42
if x > 1 : yes
print('More than one') x < 100
if x < 100 : n
print('Less than 100') o print('Less than 100')
print('All done')

print('All Done')
Two-way Decisions
x=4

• Sometimes we want to
do one thing if a logical no yes
x>2
expression is true and
something else if the
expression is false print('Not bigger') print('Bigger')

• It is like a fork in the

road - we must choose
one or the other path but print('All Done')
not both
 Two-way Decisions
x=4
with else:
no yes
x = 4 x>2

if x > 2 :
print('Bigger') print('Not bigger') print('Bigger')
else :
print('Smaller')

print('All done')
print('All Done')
 Multi-way
yes
x<2 print('small')
no
if x < 2 :
yes
print('small')
elif x < 10 :
x < 10 print('Medium')
print('Medium') no
else :
print('LARGE') print('LARGE')
print('All done')

print('All Done')
 x=0
Multi-way
yes
x<2 print('small')
x = 0
no
if x < 2 :
yes
print('small')
elif x < 10 :
x < 10 print('Medium')
print('Medium') no
else :
print('LARGE') print('LARGE')
print('All done')

print('All Done')
 x=5
Multi-way
yes
x<2 print('small')
x = 5
no
if x < 2 :
yes
print('small')
elif x < 10 :
x < 10 print('Medium')
print('Medium') no
else :
print('LARGE') print('LARGE')
print('All done')

print('All Done')
 x = 20
Multi-way
yes
x<2 print('small')
x = 20
no
if x < 2 :
yes
print('small')
elif x < 10 :
x < 10 print('Medium')
print('Medium') no
else :
print('LARGE') print('LARGE')
print('All done')

print('All Done')
 Multi-way if x < 2 :
print('Small')
elif x < 10 :
# No Else print('Medium')
x = 5 elif x < 20 :
if x < 2 : print('Big')
print('Small') elif x < 40 :
elif x < 10 : print('Large')
print('Medium') elif x < 100:
print('Huge')
print('All done') else :
print('Ginormous')
Another if form – Conditional Expression
• An alternative if form returns a value – Python Version
of Ternary Operator
• This can simplify your code
• Example:
• return x+1 if x < 0 else x -1
• return ‘hold’ if delta==0 else sell if delta < 0 else ‘buy’
 The try / except Structure

• You surround a dangerous section of code with try and except

• If the code in the try works - the except is skipped
• If the code in the try fails - it jumps to the except section
 $ python3 notry.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "notry.py", line 2, in <module>
istr = int(astr)ValueError: invalid literal
for int() with base 10: 'Hello Bob'
$ cat notry.py
astr = 'Hello Bob' All
istr = int(astr) Done
print('First', istr)
astr = '123'
istr = int(astr)
print('Second', istr)
 $ python3 notry.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "notry.py", line 2, in <module>
The istr = int(astr)ValueError: invalid literal
program for int() with base 10: 'Hello Bob'
stops $ cat notry.py
here astr = 'Hello Bob' All
istr = int(astr) Done
print('First', istr)
astr = '123'
istr = int(astr)
print('Second', istr)
astr = 'Hello Bob' When the first conversion fails - it
try: just drops into the except: clause
istr = int(astr) and the program continues.
except:
istr = -1
$ python tryexcept.py
print('First', istr) First -1
Second 123
astr = '123'
try:
istr = int(astr)
except:
istr = -1 When the second conversion
succeeds - it just skips the except:
print('Second', istr) clause and the program continues.
 astr = 'Bob'
try / except
print('Hello')
astr = 'Bob'
try:
print('Hello') istr = int(astr)
istr = int(astr)
print('There')
except: print('There')
istr = -1
istr = -1
print('Done', istr)

print('Done', istr) Safety net

 Sample try / except
rawstr = input('Enter a number:')
try:
ival = int(rawstr) $ python3 trynum.py
except: Enter a number:42
ival = -1 Nice work
$ python3 trynum.py
if ival > 0 : Enter a number:forty-two
print('Nice work') Not a number
else: $
print('Not a number')
 while Loops
>>> x = 3
>>> while x < 5:
print x, "still in the loop"
x = x + 1
3 still in the loop
4 still in the loop
>>> x = 6
>>> while x < 5:
print x, "still in the loop"

>>>
 For Loops

• A for-loop steps through each of the items in a

collection type, or any other type of object
which is “iterable”
for <item> in <collection>:
<statements>
• If <collection> is a list or a tuple, then the loop
steps through each element of the sequence
• If <collection> is a string, then the loop steps
through each character of the string
for someChar in “Hello World”:
print someChar
 For loops & the range() function
• Since a variable often ranges over some sequence of
numbers, the range() function returns a list of numbers from 0
up to but not including the number we pass to it.
• range(5) returns [0,1,2,3,4]
• So we could say:
for x in range(5):
print x
• (There are more complex forms of range() that provide richer
functionality…)
 For Loops and Dictionaries
>>> ages = { "Sam" : 4, "Mary" : 3, "Bill" : 2 }
>>> ages
{'Bill': 2, 'Mary': 3, 'Sam': 4}
>>> for name in ages.keys():
print name, ages[name]
Bill 2
Mary 3
Sam 4
>>>
 break and continue
• You can use the keyword break inside a loop to leave
the while loop entirely.

• You can use the keyword continue inside a loop to stop

processing the current iteration of the loop and to
immediately go on to the next one.
 Usage of ‘else’ in Loops
• Else part can be included in with both ‘for’ and ‘while’ constructs.

• Else block will be executed once the repletion is done for the given
collection of objects/condition is failed

• Else block will only be executed if loops exits without the occurrence of
break statement.