❑ Remember to increment i, or else the loop will continue forever.

❑ The while loop requires relevant variables to be ready, in this example we

need to define an indexing variable, i, which we set to 1.
❑ Remember to increment i, or else the loop will continue forever.
❑ The while loop requires relevant variables to be ready, in this example we
need to define an indexing variable, i, which we set to 1.
 n=5

No Yes Program:
n>0? Output:

print n n=5 5
while n > 0 : 4
print (n) 3
n = n -1
n=n–1 2
print ('Blastoff!’) 1
print (n) Blastoff!
print 'Blastoff' 0
Loops (repeated steps) have iteration variables that
change each time through a loop. Often these
iteration variables go through a sequence of numbers.
 n=5

No Yes
n>0?

print 'Lather' n=5

while n > 0 :
print 'Rinse' print ('Lather’)
print ('Rinse’)
print ('Dry off!’)

print 'Dry off!'

What is wrong with this loop?

 n=0

No Yes
n>0?

print 'Lather' n=0

while n > 0 :
print 'Rinse' print ('Lather’)
print ('Rinse’)
print ('Dry off!’)

print 'Dry off!'

What does this loop do?
while True: > hello there
line = input( ) hello there
if line == 'done' : > finished
break finished
print (line) > done
print ('Done!’) Done!
while True: > hello there
line = input( ) hello there
if line == 'done' : > finished
break Finished
print (line) > done
print ('Done!’) Done!
while True:
line = input( ) No Yes
True ?
if line == 'done' :
break ....
print (line)
print ('Done!’)
break

...

print 'Done'
while True: > hello there
line = input(‘ ') hello there
if line == '#' : >#
continue >
if line == 'done': > print this
break > print this!
print (line) > done
print ('Done!’) Done!
while True: > hello there
line = input( ) hello there
if line == '#' : >#
continue >
if line == 'done': > print this
break > print this!
print (line) > done
print ('Done!’) Done!
 No
True ? Yes
while True:
line = input( ) ....
if line == '#' :
continue
if line == 'done': continue
break
print (line)
...
print ('Done!’)

print 'Done'
 5
4
for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] :
3
print (i)
2
print ('Blastoff!’)
1
Blastoff!
friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally']
for friend in friends : Happy New Year: Joseph
print ('Happy New Year:', friend) Happy New Year: Glenn
print ('Done!’) Happy New Year: Sally
Done!
 No
Yes
Done? Move i ahead 5
4
for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] :
3
print i print (i)
2
print ('Blastoff!’)
1
Blastoff!

print 'Blast off!'

Definite loops (for loops) have explicit iteration
variables that change each time through a loop. These
iteration variables move through the sequence or set.
 Five-element sequence
Iteration variable

for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] :
print i
 No
Yes • The iteration variable “iterates”
Done? Move i ahead though the sequence (ordered
set)
print i
• The block (body) of code is
executed once for each value in
the sequence

• The iteration variable moves

through all of the values in the
for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] sequence
: print (i)
 i=5
No print i
Yes
Done? Move i ahead i=4
print i
print i
i=3
print i

i=2
for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] : print i
print (i)
i=1
print i
Set some variables to initial
values
for thing in data:
Look for something or do
something to each entry
separately, updating a
variable.

Look at the variables.

 $ python basicloop.py
Before
9
print ('Before’)
41
for thing in [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15] :
12
print (thing)
3
print ('After’)
74
15
After
 3 41 12 9 74 15

largest_so_far -13 41 74
 zork = 0 $ python countloop.py
print ('Before', zork) Before 0
for thing in [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15] : 19
zork = zork + 1 2 41
print (zork, thing) 3 12
print ('After', zork) 43
5 74
6 15
After 6
To count how many times we execute a loop we introduce a counter
variable that starts at 0 and we add one to it each time through the loop.
 $ python countloop.py
zork = 0 Before 0
print ('Before', zork) 99
for thing in [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15] : 50 41
zork = zork + thing 62 12
print (zork, thing) 65 3
print ('After', zork) 139 74
154 15
After 154

To add up a value we encounter in a loop, we introduce a sum variable that

starts at 0 and we add the value to the sum each time through the loop.
count = 0 $ python averageloop.py
sum = 0 Before 0 0
print ('Before', count, sum) 199
for value in [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15] : 2 50 41
count = count + 1 3 62 12
sum = sum + value 4 65 3
print (count, sum, value) 5 139 74
print ('After', count, sum, sum / count) 6 154 15
After 6 154 25
An average just combines the counting and sum patterns
and divides when the loop is done.
 $ python search1.py
found = False Before False
print ('Before', found) False 9
for value in [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15] : False 41
if value == 3 : False 12
found = True True 3
print (found, value) True 74
print ('After', found) True 15
After True
If we just want to search and know if a value was found - we use a variable that starts
at False and is set to True as soon as we find what we are looking for.
 9 41 12 3 74 15

smallest_so_far -1
 9 41 12 3 74 15

largest_so_far None 9 3