For-Loops and While-Loops

In this section, we will introduce the essential “for-loop” control flow paradigm along with the formal definition of an “iterable”. The utility of these items cannot be understated. Moving forward, you will likely find use for these concepts in nearly every piece of Python code that you write!

Note:

There are reading-comprehension exercises included throughout the text. These are meant to help you put your reading to practice. Solutions for the exercises are included at the bottom of this page.

For-Loops

A “for-loop” allows you to iterate over a collection of items, and execute a block of code once for each iteration. For example, the following code will sum up all the positive numbers in a tuple:

total = 0
for num in (-22.0, 3.5, 8.1, -10, 0.5):
    if num > 0:
        total = total + num

The general syntax for a “for-loop” is:

for <var> in <iterable>:
    block of code

Where <var> is any valid variable-identifier and <iterable> is any iterable. We will discuss iterables more formally in the next section; suffice it to know that every sequence-type object is an iterable. The forstatement must end in a colon character, and the body the for-loop is whitespace-delimited.

The for-loop behaves as follows:

Request the next member of the iterable.
If the iterable is empty, exit the for-loop without running its body.
If the iterable did produce a member, assign that member to <var> (if <var> was not previously defined, it becomes defined).
Execute the enclosed body of code.
Go back to the first step.

To be concrete, let’s consider the example:

# demonstrating a basic for-loop
total = 0
for item in [1, 3, 5]:
    total = total + item

print(total)  # `total` has the value 1 + 3 + 5 = 9
# `item` is still defined here, and holds the value 5

This code will perform the following steps:

Define the variable total, and assign it the value 0
Iterate on the list, producing value 1, define the variable item and assign it the value 1
Assign total the value 0 + 1
Iterate on the list, producing the value 3 and assigning it to item
Assign total the value 1 + 3
Iterate on the list, producing the value 5 and assigning it to item
Assign total the value 4 + 5
Iterate on the list. Having reached its end, a StopIteration signal it raised by the list, and the for-loop sequence is exited.
Print the value of total (9)

Potential Pitfall

Note that the variable item will persist after the for-loop block is exited. It will reference the last value from the for-loop iteration (in this case item has the value 5). That being said, you should not write code that depends on the iterate-variable, outside of the context of the for-loop. In the case that you try to loop over an empty iterable, the iterate-variable is never defined:

for x in []:         # the iterable is empty - the iterate-variable `x` will not be defined
    print("Hello?")  # this code is never executed
print(x)             # raises an error because `x` was never defined

Because we are attempting to iterate over an empty list, StopIteration is raised immediately - before the variable x is even defined. Thus the code enclosed within the for-loop is never reached, and the subsequent print(x) statement will raise a NameError, because x was never defined!

Reading Comprehension: A basic for-loop

Using a for-loop and an if-statement, print each letter in the string "abcdefghij", if that letter is a vowel.

While-Loops

A “while-loop” allows you to repeat a block of code until a condition is no longer true:

while <condition>:
    block of code

Where <condition> is an expression that returns True or False, or is any object on which bool can be called. The “body” of the while-loop is the code indented beneath the while-loop statement.

The while-loop behaves as follows:

Call bool(<condition>) and execute the indented block of code if True is returned. Otherwise, “exit” the while-loop, skipping past the indented code.
If the indented block code is executed, go back to the first step.

To be concrete, let’s consider the example:

# demonstrating a basic while-loop
total = 0
while total < 2:
    total += 1  # equivalent to: `total = total + 1`

print(total)  # `total` has the value 2

This code will perform the following steps:

Define the variable total, and assign it the value 0
Evaluate 0 < 2, which returns True: enter the enclosed code-block
Execute the code block: assign total the value 0 + 1
Evaluate 1 < 2, which returns True: enter the enclosed code-block
Execute the code block: assign total the value 1 + 1
Evaluate 2 < 2, which returns False: skip the enclosed code-block
Print the value of total (2)

Note that if we started off with total = 3, the condition-expression 3 < 2 would evaluate to False outright, and the indented body of code would never be reached.

Warning!

It is possible to write a while-loop such that its conditional statement is always True, in which case your code will run ceaselessly! If this ever happens to you in a Jupyter notebook, either interrupt or restart your kernel.

Reading Comprehension: A basic while-loop

Given a list of nonzero, positive numbers, x, append the sum of that list to the end of it. Do this until the last value in x is at least 100. Use a while-loop.

If you start with x = [1], then by the end of your while-loop x should be [1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128].

`break`, `continue`, & `else` clauses on loops

The continue and break statements can be used within the bodies of both for-loops and while-loops. They provide added means for “short-circuiting” or prematurely exiting a given loop, respectively.

Encountering break within a given loop causes that loop to be exited immediately:

# breaking out of a loop early
>>> for item in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]:
...     if item == 3:
...         print(item, " ...break!")
...         break
...     print(item, " ...next iteration")

...next iteration
...next iteration
...break!

An else clause can be added to the end of any loop. The body of this else-statement will be executed only if the loop was not exited via a ``break`` statement.

# including an else-clause at the end of the loop
>>> for item in [2, 4, 6]:
...     if item == 3:
...         print(item, " ...break!")
...         break
...     print(item, " ...next iteration")
... else:
...     print("if you are reading this, then the loop completed without a 'break'")

...next iteration
...next iteration
...next iteration
if you are reading this, then the loop completed without a 'break'

The continue statement, when encountered within a loop, causes the loop-statement to be revisited immediately.

# demonstrating a `continue` statement in a loop
>>> x = 1
>>> while x < 4:
...     print("x = ", x, ">> enter loop-body <<")
...     if x == 2:
...         print("x = ", x, " continue...back to the top of the loop!")
...         x += 1
...         continue
...     x += 1
...     print("--reached end of loop-body--")

x =  1 >> enter loop-body <<
--reached end of loop-body--
x =  2 >> enter loop-body <<
x =  2  continue...back to the top of the loop!
x =  3 >> enter loop-body <<
--reached end of loop-body--

Reading Comprehension: conducting flow in a loop

Loop over a list of integers repeatedly, summing up all of its even values, and adding the content to a total. Repeat this process until the the total exceeds 100, or if you have looped over the list more than 50 times. Print the total only if it exceeds 100.

Links to Official Documentation

Reading Comprehension Exercise Solutions:

A basic for-loop: Solution

for letter in "abcdefghij":
    if letter in "aeiou":
        print(letter)

A basic while-loop: Solution

while x[-1] < 100:
    x.append(sum(x))

Conducting flow in a loop: Solution

x = [3, 4, 1, 2, 8, 10, -3, 0]
num_loop = 0
total = 0

while total < 100:
    for item in x:
        # return to for-loop if
        # `item` is odd-valued
        if item % 2 == 1:
            continue
        else:
            total += item
    num_loop += 1

    # break from while-loop if
    # more than 50 items tallied
    if 50 < num_loop:
        break
else:
    print(total)