how to create a loop in python

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Overview:

This article is a walkthrough of several types of loops and control statements with plenf practice exercises. So, I advise you to read the concepts and practice the examples along with me. Let's start.

Loops and their importance

In a programming language, a loop is a statement that contains instructions that continually repeats until a certain condition is reached.

Loops help us remove the redundancy of code when a task has to be repeated several times. With the use of loops, we can cut short those hundred lines of code to a few. Suppose you want to print the text "Hello, World!" 10 times. Rather than writing a print statement 10 times, you can make use of loops by indicating the number of repetitions needed.

Image by Author (Made using Microsoft Whiteboard)

Loop Types

The three types of loops in Python programming are:

while loop
for loop
nested loops

while loop

It continually executes the statements(code) as long as the given condition is TRUE. It first checks the condition and then jumps into the instructions.

Syntax:

while condition:     statements(code)

Inside the while loop, we can have any number of statements. The condition may be anything as per our requirement. The loop stops running when the condition fails (become false), and the execution will move to the next line of code.

Flow Diagram of while loop

It first checks the condition, executes the conditional code if the condition is TRUE, and checks the condition again. Program control exits the loop if the condition is FALSE.

Example 1: Print the text "Hello, World!" 5 times.

num_of_times = 1  while num_of_times <= 5:  print("Hello, World!")  num_of_times += 1

Explanation: The loop runs as long as the num_of_times variable is less than or equal to 5. num_of_times increments by 1 after each iteration.

(if you are a beginner, use the Thonny IDE to see the step-by-step execution)

Output:

Example 2: Create a list of all the even numbers between 1 and 10

num = 1  even_numbers = []     while num <= 10:  if num % 2 == 0:  even_numbers .append(num)  num += 1     print("Even Numbers list: ", even_numbers )

Explanation: The loop runs as long as the num variable is less than or equal to 10. If the condition is TRUE, the program control enters the loop and appends the num to the even_numbers list if the number is cleanly divisible by 2.

Output:

even number list | Loops and Control Statements

Example 3: Creating an infinite loop

A loop runs infinite times when the condition never fails.

i = True while i:     print("Condition satisfied")

Output:

Example 4: use else with a while loop

When an else statement is used along with a while loop, the control goes to the else statement when the condition is False.

var = 1
while var <= 4:
print(f"Condition is TRUE: {var} <= 4″)
var += 1
else:
print(f"Condition is FALSE: {var} > 4″)

Output:

else with while loop | Loops and Control Statements

for loop

A for loop is used to iterate over a sequence like lists, type, dictionaries, sets, or even strings.

Loop statements will be executed for each item of the sequence.

Syntax of for loop:

for item in iterator:     statements(code)

Flow diagram of for loop:

flow diagram while loop | Loops and Control Statements — Image 2

Takes the first item of the iterable, executes the statement, and moves the pointer to the next item until it reaches the last item of the sequence.

Example 1: Print the text "Hello, World!" 5 times.

list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] for num in list:     print("Hello, World!")

the variable num is not used in the code, so we can use the below syntax (use underscore):

list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] for _ in list:     print("Hello, World!")

Example 2: Create a list of all the even numbers between 1 and 10

(using the range function to return a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10. Read more about it from here)

even_nums = [] for i in range(1, 11):     if i % 2 == 0:         even_nums.append(i) print("Even Numbers: ", even_nums)

Example 3: Creating an infinite loop

An infinite loop can be created using a loop by appending a new element to the list after every iteration.

num = [0] for i in num:     print(i)     num.append(i+1)

Output:

Example 4: use else with a for loop

iterator = (1, 2, 3, 4) for item in iterator:     print(item) else:     print("No more items in the iterator")

Output:

Example 5: Display the items of a dictionary

example = {     'iterator': 'dictionary',     'loop': 'for',     'operation': 'display dictionary elements' } for key in example:     print(f"{key}: {example[key]}")

The key, value of a dictionary can be directly accessed using .items()

for key, value in example.items():     print(f"{key}: {value}")

Output:

Loops and Control Statements | for loop example

Nested loops

Nested loops mean using a loop inside another loop. We can use any type of loop inside any type of loop. We can use a while loop inside for loop, a for loop inside a while loop, a while loop inside a while loop, or a for loop inside a for loop.

Example: Create a list of even numbers between 1 and 10

even_list = [] for item in range(1, 11):     while item % 2 == 0:         even_list.append(item)         break print("Even Numbers: ", even_list)

Output:

Loop Control Statements

Loop control statements are used to change the flow of execution. These can be used if you wish to skip an iteration or stop the execution.

The three types of loop control statements are:

break statement
continue statement
pass statement

break statement

based on the given condition, the break statement stops the execution and brings the control out of the loop.

Example: Create a list of the odd numbers between 1 and 20 (use while, break)

num = 1 odd_nums = [] while num:     if num % 2 != 0:         odd_nums.append(num)     if num >=20:         break     num += 1 print("Odd numbers: ", odd_nums)

Example: Stop the execution if the current number is 5 (use for, break)

for num in range(1, 11):     if num == 5:         break     else:         print(num)Continue statement

Continue statement is used to skip the current iteration when the condition is met and allows the loop to continue with the next iteration. It does not bring the control out of the loop unline the break statement.

Example: Skip the iteration if the current number is 6 (use while, continue)

num = 0 while num < 10:     num += 1     if num == 6:         continue     print(num)

Example: Skip the iteration if the current number is 6 (use for, continue)

for num in range(1, 11):     if num == 6:         continue     print(num)

Pass Statement

Pass statement is used when we want to do nothing when the condition is met. It doesn't skip or stop the execution, it just passes to the next iteration. Sometimes we use comment which is ignored by the interpreter. Pass is not ignored and can be used with loops, functions, classes, etc.

It is useful when we do not want to write functionality at present but want to implement it in the future.

Example: while, pass statement

num = 1 while num <= 10:     if num == 6:         pass     print(num)        num += 1

Example: for, pass statement

for num in range(1, 11):     if num == 6:         pass     print(num)

As an exercise, run the code snippets and see how the control statements work.

End Notes:

I am glad you are determined to read till the conclusion. By the end of this article, we are familiar with the types of loops, control statements in Python.

I hope this article is informative. Feel free to share it with your study buddies.

References:

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