Looping Constructs in Python

Printing Numbers
• Write a Python code to print the first N natural
numbers.
 PAC - Printing Numbers
Input Processing Output

A Number, N Start printing from 1 and Numbers from

increment each time to print the 1 to N
next value and continue upto N
Algorithm - Printing first ‘N’ Natural
Numbers
Step 1: Start
Step 2 : Read a number, N Known

Step 3 : Initialize counter as 1 Known

Step 4 : print counter Known

Step 5 : Increment the counter by 1 Known

Step 6: repeat Step 4 until the counter reaches N ??

Step 7: Stop
 Yet to learn
• Repeatedly execute a set of statements
 Need of iterative control
Repeated execution of set of statements
• An iterative control statement is a control
statement providing repeated execution of a
set of instructions
• Because of their repeated execution, iterative
control structures are commonly referred to
as “loops”.
Iterative Control Statements in Python
• while statement
– Repeatedly executes a set of statements based on a
Boolean expression (condition).
– Ideal when stop criteria is not explicit

• for statement
– Repeatedly executes a set of statements until the
sequence is exhausted
 Syntax of while in Python
# Loop test (condition is true)
while test:
statements # Loop body

else: # Optional else

statements

# Run if didn't exit loop with break

Note the colon (:) following test and else and the indentation
 Example: Printing first ‘N’ numbers
Let N=3
counter =1
while counter <= N:
print(counter)
counter = counter + 1

Iteration counter counter<=3 Print counter counter=counter+1

1 1 True 1 counter=1+1 ->(2)
2 2 True 2 counter=2+1 ->(3)
3 3 True 3 counter=3+1 ->(4)
4 4 False loop termination
 Print values from 1 to 9 in a line
a=1; b=10
while a < b: # Another way to code counter loops
print(a, end=' ')
a += 1 # Or, a = a + 1

Output:
123456789

Include end=‘ ‘ in print statement to suppress default

move to new line
 Try it
• Write a python program to print the first N
natural numbers in the reverse order.

• Write a python program to print only even

numbers upto a given number N.

• Write a python program to find the sum of

first ‘N’ Natural numbers.
 Example: Sum of first ‘N’ numbers
sum =0
counter =1
N=3
while counter <= N:
sum=sum + counter
counter = counter + 1
print(sum)

Iteration sum counter counter<=3 sum=sum+counter counter=counter+1

1 0 1 True sum=0+1 ->(1) counter=1+1 ->(2)
2 1 2 True sum=1+2 ->(3) counter=2+1 ->(3)
3 3 3 True sum=3+3 ->(6) counter=3+1 ->(4)
4 4 4 False loop termination
 Break, continue, pass, and the Loop
else
• break
– Jumps out of the closest enclosing loop
• continue
– Jumps to the top of the closest enclosing loop
• pass
– Does nothing at all: it’s an empty statement
placeholder
• Loop else
– Runs if and only if the loop is exited normally (i.e.,
without hitting a break)
 break statement – Example
• Read and print the name and age of a person
until ‘stop’ is read.
– There is no fixed number of iteration as we do not
know when stop would be entered by the user

– break statement is used to jump out of the loop

when ‘stop’ is read
 break statement
while True:
name = input('Enter name:')
if name == 'stop':
break
age = input('Enter age: ')
print('Hello', name, '=>', age)
Output:
Enter name:bob
Enter age: 40
Hello bob => 1600
 Try it
• Write a python code to find the sum of
integers read until 0 is read.
 pass statement
• Infinite loop
• while True: pass #empty placeholder
# Type Ctrl-C to stop me!
 continue statement
• Jumps to the top of the loop (condition) and
skips the current iteration
• Example:
– Print only the even numbers between 1 to N

Let N=3
counter =1
while counter <= N:
if N%2!=0:
continue #skips the current iteration
print(counter)
counter = counter + 1
 Class Average
• Given marks secured in CSE1001 by the
students in a class, design an algorithm and
write a Python code to determine the class
average. Print only two decimal digits in
average
 Class Average
Input Processing Output

Number of students in Determine total of marks Class average

class, mark scored by secured by students of marks
each student
Find average of marks
Average marks scored by ‘N’ number
of Students
Step 1: Start
Step 2 : Read Number Of Students
Step 3 : Initialize count as 0 and total as 0
Step 4 : Input mark
Step 5 : Add the mark with total
Step 6 : Increment the count by 1
Step 7: repeat Step 4 to Step 6 until count is less than or equal
to the number of students
Step 8: Divide the total by number of students and store it in
average
Step 8: Display the average
Step 9: Stop
Class Average
 Test Cases
Input
5
90 85 70 50 60
Output
71.00
Processing Involved
 Try it
• Given a number ‘n’, write a python code to
check whether ‘n’ is prime or not.
Check if a given number is Prime
 Pattern Generation
• Your teacher has given you the task of drawing the structure
of a staircase. Being an expert programmer, you decided to
make a program for the same. You are given the height of the
staircase. Given the height of the staircase, write a program to
print a staircase as shown in the example. For example,
Staircase of height 6:
#
##
###
####
#####
######
Boundary Conditions: height >0
 Pattern Generation
Input Processing Output

Staircase height Create steps one by one Pattern

To create a step print character
equal to length of step
 Pseudocode
READ staircase_height
if staircase_height > 0
x=1
Repeat
y=1
Repeat
print #
y=y+1
Until y <= x
x=x+1
Until x <= staircase_height
Else
Print “Invalid input”
 For iteration
• Repeatedly executes a set of statements until
the sequence is exhausted
• What is a sequence?
– Ordered set of elements
• Python sequences
– String – a sequence of characters
– range
– List, Tuple
Control flow of for statement
 Syntax of for Statement
for iter_var in sequence: # Assign sequence items to iter_var
statements
if test: break # Exit loop now, skip else
if test: continue # Go to top of loop now
else: statements # If we didn't hit a 'break’
 For and Strings
for iterating_var in sequence or range:
statement(s)
Example:
for letter in 'Python':
print 'Current Letter :', letter
 For and Strings
When the above code is executed:

Current Letter : P
Current Letter : y
Current Letter : t
Current Letter : h
Current Letter : o
Current Letter : n
 For and Range
for n in range(1, 6):
print(n)
Output when the above code is executed:
1
2
3
4
5
 range function call
Syntax - range( begin,end,step )
where
Begin - first value in the range; if omitted, then default value
is 0
end - one past the last value in the range; end value may not
be omitted
Step - amount to increment or decrement; if this parameter
is omitted, it defaults to 1 and counts up by ones

begin, end, and step must all be integer values;

floating-point values and other types are not allowed
 Example for Range
range(10)  0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
range(1, 10)  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
range(1, 10, 2)  1,3,5,7,9
range(10, 0, -1)  10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
range(10, 0, -2)  10,8,6,4,2
range(2, 11, 2)  2,4,6,8,10
range(-5, 5)  −5,−4,−3,−2,−1,0,1,2,3,4
range(1, 2)  1
range(1, 1)  (empty)
range(1, -1)  (empty)
range(1, -1, -1)  1,0
range(0)  (empty)
 Print Even Numbers Using Range
>>> for i in range(2,10,2):
print(i)

Output:
2
4
6
8
 Try it
• Print even numbers from N to 1
• Print only odd numbers from 1 to N
Pattern Generation - Code
 Test Cases
Input
-1
Output
Invalid input

Processing Involved
Boundary condition check fails
 Test Cases
Input
3
Output
#
##
###

Processing Involved
Print step by step
 Try it
• Write pseudocode and python code to print
the pattern structure given the value of n.
– For example, the following structure should be
displayed for n=4.
####
###
##
#
 Try it
• Write pseudocode and python code to print
the pattern structure given the value of n.
– For example, the following structure should be
displayed for n=4.
1
22
333
4444