Python range() function

 Updated on Nov 10, 2019

The range() function is used to generate a sequence of numbers over time. At its

The syntax of the range() function is as follows:

Syntax:

range([start,] stop [, step]) -> range object

PARAMETER DESCRIPTION

start (optional) Starting point of the sequence. It defaults to 0.

stop (required) Endpoint of the sequence. This item will not be included in the sequence.

step (optional) Step size of the sequence. It defaults to 1.

Let's now look at a couple of examples to understand how range() works:

Example 1:

>>>
1
>>> range(5)
2
range(0, 5)
3
>>>
4
>>> list(range(5)) # list() call is not required in Python
5
2
6
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
7
>>>
Try it out:

1
print(range(5))
 2

# list() call is not required in Python 2

print(list(range(5)))

When range() is called with a single argument it generates a sequence of numbers

Example 2:

1 >>>
2 >>> range(5, 10)
3 range(5, 10)
4 >>>
5 >>> list(range(5, 10))
6 [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
7 >>>
Try it out:

print(range(5, 10))
2

print(list(range(5, 10)))
4
Submit

Here range() is called with two arguments, 5 and 10. As a result, it will generate a

You can also specify negative numbers:

1 >>>
2 >>> list(range(-2, 2))
3 [-2, -1, 0, 1]
4 >>>
5 >>> list(range(-100, -95))
6 [-100, -99, -98, -97, -96]
7 >>>
Try it out:

1
print(list(range(-2, 2)))
2
 3
print(list(range(-100, -95)))
4

Submit
Example 3:

>>>
1
>>> range(1, 20, 3)
2
range(1, 20, 3)
3
>>>
4
>>>
5
>>> list(range(1, 20, 3))
6
[1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16,
7
19]
8
>>>
Try it out:

1
print( range(1, 20, 3))
2

3
print(list(range(1, 20, 3)))
4

Submit

Here the range() function is called with a step argument of 3, so it will return every third
element from 1 to 20 (off course not including 20).

You can also use the step argument to count backwards.

1 >>>
2 >>> list(range(20, 10, -1))
3 [20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12,
4 11]
5 >>>
6 >>> list(range(20, 10, -5))
 [20, 15]
7
>>>
Try it out:

1
print(list(range(20, 10, -1)))
2

3
print(list(range(20, 10, -5)))
4

Submit

 Output
 Input
The range() function is commonly used with for loop to repeat an action certain number
of times. For example, in the following listing, we use range() to execute the loop body
5 times.

1 >>>
2 >>> for i in range(5):
3 ... print(i)
4 ...
50
61
72
83
94
10 >>>
Try it out:

1
for i in range(5):
2
print(i)
3

Submit

 Output
 Input
This code is functionally equivalent to the following:

>>>
1
>>> for i in [0, 1, 2, 3,
2
4]:
3
... print(i)
4
...
5
0
6
1
7
2
8
3
9
4
10
>>>
However, in the actual code, you should always use range() because it is concise,
flexible and performs better.