for loop

Like most other languages, Python has for loops, but it differs a bit from other like C or Pascal.
In Python for loop is used to iterate over the items of any sequence including the Python list,
string, tuple etc. The for loop is also used to access elements from a container (for example list,
string, tuple) using built-in function range().

Syntax:
for variable_name in sequence :
statement_1
statement_2
....
Parameter:

Name Description

variable_name It indicates target variable which will set a new value for each iteration of
the loop.

sequence A sequence of values that will be assigned to the target variable

variable_name. Values are provided using a list or a string or from the
built-in function range().

statement_1, Block of program statements.

statement_2 .....

Example: Python for loop

>>> #The list has four elements, indices start at 0 and end at 3
>>> color_list = ["Red", "Blue", "Green", "Black"]
>>> for c in color_list:
print(c)

Red
Blue
Green
Black

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>>>

In the above example color_list is a sequence contains a list of various color names. When the
for loop executed the first item (i.e. Red) is assigned to the variable c. After this, the print
statement will execute and the process will continue until we reach the end of the list.

Python for loop and range() function

The range() function returns a list of consecutive integers. The function has one, two or three
parameters where last two parameters are optional. It is widely used in for loops. Here is the
syntax.

range(a)
range(a,b)
range(a,b,c)

range(a) : Generates a sequence of numbers from 0 to a, excluding a, incrementing by 1.

Syntax:
for <variable> in range(<number>):
Example:
>>> for a in range(4):
print(a)

0
1
2
3

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range(a,b): Generates a sequence of numbers from a to b excluding b,
incrementing by 1.

Syntax:
for "variable" in range("start_number", "end_number"):
Example:
>>> for a in range(2,7):
print(a)

2
3
4
5
6

range(a,b,c): Generates a sequence of numbers from a to b excluding b, incrementing by c.

Example:
>>> for a in range(2,19,5):
print(a)

2
7
12
17
>>>

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Python for loop: Iterating over tuple, list, dictionary
Example: Iterating over tuple

The following example counts the number of even and odd numbers from a
series of numbers.
numbers = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) # Declaring the tuple
count_odd = 0
count_even = 0
for x in numbers:
if x % 2:
count_odd+=1
else:
count_even+=1
print("Number of even numbers :",count_even)
print("Number of odd numbers :",count_odd)

Output:
Number of even numbers:4
Number of odd numbers: 5

In the above example a tuple named numbers is declared which holds the
integers 1 to 9.

The best way to check if a given number is even or odd is to use the modulus
operator (%).

The operator returns the remainder when dividing two numbers.

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Modulus of 8 % 2 returns 0 as 8 is divided by 2, therefore 8 is even and modulus
of 5 % 2 returns 1 therefore 5 is odd.

The for loop iterates through the tuple and we test modulus of x % 2 is true or
not, for every item in the tuple and the process will continue until we rich the end
of the tuple.

When it is true count_even increase by one otherwise count_odd is increased by

one.

Finally, we print the number of even and odd numbers through print statements.

Example: Iterating over list

In the following example for loop iterates through the list "datalist" and prints
each item and its corresponding Python type.
datalist = [1452, 11.23, 1+2j, True, 'w3resource', (0, -1), [5, 12],

{"class":'V', "section":'A'}]

for item in datalist:

print ("Type of ",item, " is ", type(item))

Output:
Type of 1452 is <class 'int'>
Type of 11.23 is <class 'float'>
Type of (1+2j) is <class 'complex'>
Type of True is <class 'bool'>
Type of w3resource is <class 'str'>
Type of (0, -1) is <class 'tuple'>
Type of [5, 12] is <class 'list'>
Type of {'section': 'A', 'class': 'V'} is <class 'dict'>

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Example: Iterating over dictionary

In the following example for loop iterates through the dictionary "color" through its
keys and prints each key.
>>> color = {"c1": "Red", "c2": "Green", "c3": "Orange"}

>>> for key in color:

print(key)

c2

c1

c3

>>>

Following for loop iterates through its values :

>>> color = {"c1": "Red", "c2": "Green", "c3": "Orange"}

>>> for value in color.values():

print(value)

Green

Red

Orange

>>>

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You can attach an optional else clause with for statement, in this case, syntax will
be -
for variable_name in sequence :
statement_1
statement_2
....
else :
statement_3
statement_4
....
The else clause is only executed after completing the for loop. If a break
statement executes in first program block and terminates the loop then the else
clause does not execute.

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While loop
Loops are used to repeatedly execute a block of program statements. The basic
loop structure in Python is while loop. Here is the syntax.

Syntax:

while (expression) :
statement_1
statement_2
....
The while loop runs as long as the expression (condition) evaluates to True and
execute the program block. The condition is checked every time at the beginning
of the loop and the first time when the expression evaluates to False, the loop
stops without executing any remaining statement(s). The following example
prints the digits 0 to 4 as we set the condition x < 5.
x = 0;

while (x < 5):

print(x)

x += 1

Copy
Output:
0
1
2
3
4
One thing we should remember that a while loop tests its condition before the
body of the loop (block of program statements) is executed. If the initial test
returns false, the body is not executed at all. For example the following code
never prints out anything since before executing the condition evaluates to false.
x = 10;

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while (x < 5):

print(x)

x += 1

Copy
Flowchart:

The following while loop is an infinite loop, using True as the condition:
x = 10;

while (True):

print(x)

x += 1

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Flowchart:

Python: while and else statement

There is a structural similarity between while and else statement. Both have a
block of statement(s) which is only executed when the condition is true. The
difference is that block belongs to if statement executes once whereas block
belongs to while statement executes repeatedly.

You can attach an optional else clause with while statement, in this case, syntax
will be -

while (expression) :
statement_1
statement_2
......
else :
statement_3
statement_4
......
The while loop repeatedly tests the expression (condition) and, if it is true,
executes the first block of program statements. The else clause is only executed
when the condition is false it may be the first time it is tested and will not execute
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if the loop breaks, or if an exception is raised. If a break statement executes in
first program block and terminates the loop then the else clause does not
execute. In the following example, while loop calculates the sum of the integers
from 0 to 9 and after completing the loop, else statement executes.
x = 0;

s = 0

while (x < 10):

s = s + x

x = x + 1

else :

print('The sum of first 9 integers : ',s)

Output:
The sum of first 9 integers: 45
Flowchart:

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Example: while loop with if-else and break statement
x = 1;

s = 0

while (x < 10):

s = s + x

x = x + 1

if (x == 5):

break

else :

print('The sum of first 9 integers : ',s)

print('The sum of ',x,' numbers is :',s)

Copy
Output:
The sum of 5 numbers is : 10

In the above example the loop is terminated when x becomes 5. Here we use
break statement to terminate the while loop without completing it, therefore
program control goes to outside the while - else structure and execute the next
print statement.

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Flowchart:

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break statement
The break statement is used to exit a for or a while loop. The purpose of this
statement is to end the execution of the loop (for or while) immediately and the
program control goes to the statement after the last statement of the loop. If there
is an optional else statement in while or for loop it skips the optional clause also.
Here is the syntax.

Syntax:

while (expression1) :
statement_1
statement_2
......
if expression2 :
break
for variable_name in sequence :
statement_1
statement_2
if expression3 :
break
Example: break in for loop

In the following example for loop breaks when the count value is 5. The print
statement after the for loop displays the sum of first 5 elements of the tuple
numbers.
numbers = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) # Declaring the tuple

num_sum = 0

count = 0

for x in numbers:

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 num_sum = num_sum + x

count = count + 1

if count == 5:

break

print("Sum of first ",count,"integers is: ", num_sum)

Output:
Sum of first 5 integers is: 15

Example: break in while loop

In the following example while loop breaks when the count value is 5. The print
statement after the while loop displays the value of num_sum (i.e. 0+1+2+3+4).
num_sum = 0

count = 0

while(count<10):

num_sum = num_sum + count

count = count + 1

if count== 5:

break

print("Sum of first ",count,"integers is: ", num_sum)

Output:
Sum of first 5 integers is : 10

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continue statement
The continue statement is used in a while or for loop to take the control to the top
of the loop without executing the rest statements inside the loop. Here is a simple
example.
for x in range(7):

if (x == 3 or x==6):

continue

print(x)

Copy
Output:
0
1
2
4
5
In the above example, the for loop prints all the numbers from 0 to 6 except 3
and 6 as the continue statement returns the control of the loop to the top

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