Explanation
Iterator is an object in python that implements iteration protocol. Tuples,lists,sets are called inbuilt iterators in Python.There are two types of method in iteration protocol.
__iter__() : This method is called when we initialize an iterator and this must return an object which consist next() or __next__()(in Python 3) method.
next() or __next__() (in Python 3) : This method should returns the next element from a iteration sequence.When an iterator is used with a for loop the for loop directly call the next() on the iterator object.
Example Code
# creating a custom iterator class Pow_of_Two: def __init__(self, max = 0): self.max = max def __iter__(self): self.n = 0 return self def __next__(self): if self.n <= self.max: result = 2 ** self.n self.n += 1 return result else: raise StopIteration("Message") a = Pow_of_Two(4) i = iter(a) print(i.__next__()) print(next(i)) print(next(i)) print(next(i)) print(next(i)) print(next(i))
Output
1 2 4 8 16 StopIteration error will be raised