# Python Looping

This guide is an overview of looping through Python code.

## Overview

Looping allows you to run a group of statements repeatedly. Some loops repeat statements until a condition is False; others repeat statements until a condition is True. There are also loops that repeat statements a specific number of times.

The following looping statements are available in Python:

• for - Uses a counter or loops through a each item in a list a specified number of times.
• while - Loops while a condition is True.
• Nested loops - Repeats a group of statements for each item in a collection or each element of an array.
• Existing loops - What can be done to exit a loop?

Unlike other languages, Python does not use an end statement for its loop syntax. Instead, the initial Loop statement is followed by a colon : symbol. Then the next line will be indented by 4 spaces. Each subsequent line in the loop also needs to be indented by 4 or more spaces. It is these spaces to the left of the line that are key.

for c in range(0, 3):
This is the the loop
This is a second line and the last line of the for loop
This line is not part of the loop. It is the first line in the rest of the script.
.....


If a line is not indented it is considered outside the loop and will also terminate any additional lines considered in the loop. A common mistake is remove the spaces and therefore prematurely end the loop.

## For Loop

You can use for statements to run a block of statements a specific number of times.

Using Python to loop through each item in a list based structure is very easy:

list1 = [10,25,33,42,59,64]

for i in list1:
print i

print "This is the end of the function"


The for loop will process each member individually. This syntax will also work directly on any indexable structures like the coordinates of a Point3D, values of a Vector, points of a Line, etc… Other iterable objects can be lists or a string. You can also create you own iterable objects if needed.

Sometimes it is useful to have a counter variable whose value increases or decreases with each repetition of the loop. The following example causes a procedure to execute 4 times. The for statement specifies the counter variable x and its start and end values. Python will automatically increments the counter (x) variable by 1 after coming to end of the for block.

for x in range(0, 3):
print "We're on loop " + str(x)


Python can use any iterable method as a the for loop counter. In the case above we are using range(). In the example below the range(len())function is used to coordinate the counter with the number of members in list1:

list1 = [10,25,33,42,59,64]

for i in range(len(list1)):
print list1[i]

print "This is the end of the function"


Sometimes it is required to increase or decrease the counter variable by the value you specify. In the following example, the counter variable j is incremented by 2 each time the loop repeats. When the loop is finished, the total is the sum of 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8.

for j in range(0, 10, 2):
print "We're on loop " + str(j)


To decrease the counter variable, use a negative range value. You must specify an end value that is less than the start value. In the following example, the counter variable j is decreased by 2 each time the loop repeats. When the loop is finished, total is the sum of 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2.

 for j in range(10, 0, -2):
print "We're on loop " + str(j)


You can exit any for statement before the counter reaches its end value by using the break statement. Because you usually want to exit only in certain situations, such as when an error occurs, you could also use the if statement in the True statement block. If the condition is False, the loop runs as usual.

More information on the for loop can be found at the Python.org For Loops article.

## While Loop

Use the while loop to check a condition before each execution of the loop.

var1 = 2
while var1 < 32:
var1 = var1 * 2
print var1
print "Exited while loop."


while loops are not used as much as for loops. But while loops are used often in in cases the following way, polling for specific input or a loop that will execute forever until a condition is met:

while True:
if n.strip() == 'hello':
break


As you can see, this compacts the whole thing into a piece of code managed entirely by the while loop. Having True as a condition ensures that the code runs until it’s broken by n.strip() equaling ‘hello’.

More information on the while loop can be found at the Python.org While Loop article.

## Nested Loops

Python allows for loops to be nested inside one another. Any type of loop can be nested within any other type of loop. Take note of the progressive spaces to the left of the lines in a nested loop.

for x in range(0, 100):
if x % 2 == 0:
print str(x) + " is an even number."


Nested loops can also be used to look at each member in nested lists:

list_of_points = [ [10, -34, 6], [15, 25, 12], [34, 67, 2]]

for point in list_of_points:
for c in point:
print c

print "End of the nested list"


## Exiting Loops

Sometimes exiting a loop before it finishes its initial loop count. The 3 statements that can be used are break, continue, and pass.

### Break

The break statement will immediately exit the loop after finding a point that has a x coordinate of 15. The script then executes outside of the loop. Many times a break is used within an if statement in the loop:

list_of_points = [ [10, -34, 6], [15, 25, 12], [34, 67, 2]]

for point in list_of_points:
if point[0] == 15:
break
print point

print "End of the list"


The output here show that once the point with the x coordinate of 15 is hit, the loop is exited.

[10, -34, 6]
End of the list


### Continue

The continue statement is used to stop a single iteration of a loop, but continue to subsequent iterations of the loop. For instance, using the same example above, but with a continue statement:

list_of_points = [ [10, -34, 6], [15, 25, 12], [34, 67, 2]]

for point in list_of_points:
if point[0] == 15:
continue
print point

print "End of the list"


The output will skip any iteration that the continue is triggered. In this case the output looks like this:

[10, -34, 6]
[34, 67, 2]
End of the list


The second point was skipped due to the continue statement.

### Pass

The pass statement is more of a place holder inside a loop. A pass will not affect the execution of a loop, but allows a statement to be placed in a loop syntax:

list_of_points = [ [10, -34, 6], [15, 25, 12], [34, 67, 2]]

for point in list_of_points:
if point[0] == 15:
pass
print point

print "End of the list"


The output to this loop is identical to a loop without the if statement:

[10, -34, 6]
[15, 25, 12]
[34, 67, 2]
End of the list


The pass is simply there to hold a place in the if statement. The pass` statement is commonly used to create placeholders for loops when writing new code.