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Practice

Loops: for and while

In programming, we often need to repeat actions, such as printing items, summing values, or checking conditions. Loops let us do this efficiently without writing the same code multiple times.

Python provides two main types of loops: for and while.


for Loops​

A for loop is used when you want to go through each item in a sequence, such as a list, string, or range of numbers.

For Loop
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

for fruit in fruits:
    print("I like", fruit)

Explanation​

  • fruits is a list.
  • The variable fruit takes one value from the list in each loop.
  • The loop prints a sentence using that value.
  • This repeats three times, once for each fruit.

while Loops​

A while loop runs as long as a condition is true.

While Loop
count = 1

while count <= 3:
    print("Count is:", count)
    count += 1

Explanation​

  • The loop starts with count = 1.
  • It checks the condition count <= 3. If it is true, the block runs.
  • After each loop, count increases by 1.
  • When count becomes 4, the condition is false and the loop stops.

When to Use Each​

  • Use a for loop when you already know the set of items you want to process.
  • Use a while loop when the number of repetitions depends on a condition that may change.

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