6/2/2019 Loops in Python explained with examples

LOOPS IN PYTHON EXPLAINED WITH EXAMPLES

Deepanshu Bhalla 2 Comments Python

This tutorial covers various ways to execute

loops in python with several practical examples.
After reading this tutorial, you will be familiar with
the concept of loop and will be able to apply
loops in real world data wrangling tasks.

Table of Contents
1. What is Loop?
2. Real World Examples of Loop
3. For Loop Python - Syntax and Examples
4. for loop with else clause
5. While Loop

What is Loop?
Loop is an important programming concept and
exist in almost every programming language
(Python, C, R, Visual Basic etc.). It is used to
repeat a particular operation(s) several times
until a specific condition is met. It is mainly used
to automate repetitive tasks.

Real World Examples of

Loop
1. Software of the ATM machine is in a loop
to process transaction after transaction

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until you acknowledge that you have no

more to do.
2. Software program in a mobile device
allows user to unlock the mobile with 5
password attempts. After that it resets
mobile device.
3. You put your favorite song on a repeat
mode. It is also a loop.
4. You want to run a particular analysis on
each column of your data set.

For Loop Python - Syntax

and Examples
Like R and C programming language, you can
use for loop in Python. It is one of the most
commonly used loop method to automate the
repetitive tasks.

How for loop works?

Suppose you are asked to print sequence of

numbers from 1 to 9, increment by 2.

for i in range(1,10,2):
print(i)

Output

1
3
5
7
9

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range(1,10,2) means starts from 1 and ends

with 9 (excluding 10), increment by 2.

Iteration over list

This section covers how to run for in loop on a
list.

mylist = [30,21,33,42,53,64,71,86,97,10]
for i in mylist:
print(i)

Output

30
21
33
42
53
64
71
86
97
10

Suppose you need to select every 3rd value

of list.

for i in mylist[::3]:
print(i)

Output

30
42

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71
10

mylist[::3] is equivalent to mylist[0::3] which

follows this syntax style list[start:stop:step]

Python Loop Explained with Examples

Example 1 : Create a new list with only

items from list that is between 0 and 10

l1 = [100, 1, 10, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 98]

new = [] #Blank list

for i in l1:
if i > 0 and i <= 10:
new.append(i)

new

Output: [1, 10, 2, 3, 5, 8]

It can also be done via numpy package by

creating list as numpy array. See the code below.

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import numpy as np
k=np.array(l1)
new=k[np.where(k<=10)]

Example 2 : Check which alphabet (a-z)

is mentioned in string

Suppose you have a string named k and you

want to check which alphabet exists in the string
k.

k = "deepanshu"

import string
for n in string.ascii_lowercase:
if n in k:
print(n + ' exists in ' + k)
else:
print(n + ' does not exist in ' + k)

string.ascii_lowercase returns

'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'.

Practical Examples : for in loop in

Python

Create sample pandas data frame for illustrative

purpose.

import pandas as pd
np.random.seed(234)
df = pd.DataFrame({"x1" :
np.random.randint(low=1, high=100, size=10),

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"Month1" :
np.random.normal(size=10),
"Month2" :
np.random.normal(size=10),
"Month3" :
np.random.normal(size=10),
"price" : range(10)
})

df

1. Multiple each month column by 1.2

for i in range(1,4):
print(df["Month"+str(i)]*1.2)

range(1,4) returns 1, 2 and 3. str(

) function is used to covert to
string. "Month" + str(1) means

Month1.

2. Store computed columns in new data

frame

import pandas as pd
newDF = pd.DataFrame()
for i in range(1,4):
data = pd.DataFrame(df["Month"+str(i)]*1.2)
newDF=pd.concat([newDF,data], axis=1)

pd.DataFrame( ) is used to create

blank data frame. The concat()

function from pandas package is

used to concatenate two data
frames.

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3. Check if value of x1 >= 50, multiply each

month cost by price. Otherwise same as
month.

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
for i in range(1,4):
df['newcol'+str(i)] = np.where(df['x1'] >=
50,

df['Month'+str(i)] * df['price'],

df['Month'+str(i)])

In this example, we are adding

new columns named newcol1,
newcol2 and
newcol3. np.where(condition,
value_if condition meets, value_if
condition does not meet) is used
to construct IF ELSE statement.

4. Filter data frame by each unique value of a

column and store it in a separate data frame

mydata = pd.DataFrame({"X1" :
["A","A","B","B","C"]})

for name in mydata.X1.unique():

temp = pd.DataFrame(mydata[mydata.X1 ==
name])
exec('{} = temp'.format(name))

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The unique( ) function is used to

calculate distinct values of a
variable. The exec( ) function is
used for dynamic execution of
Python program. See the usage of
string format( ) function below -

s= "Your Input"
"i am {}".format(s)

Output: 'i am Your Input'

Loop Control Statements

Loop control statements change execution from

its normal iteration. When execution leaves a
scope, all automatic objects that were created in
that scope are destroyed.

Python supports the following control statements.

1. Continue statement
2. Break statement

Continue Statement
When continue statement is executed, it skips
the further code in the loop and continue
iteration.
In the code below, we are avoiding letters a and
d to be printed.

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for n in "abcdef":
if n =="a" or n =="d":
continue
print("letter :", n)

letter : b
letter : c
letter : e
letter : f

Break Statement
When break statement runs, it breaks or stops
the loop.
In this program, when n is either c or d, loop
stops executing.

for n in "abcdef":
if n =="c" or n =="d":
break
print("letter :", n)

letter : a
letter : b

for loop with else clause

Using else clause with for loop is not common

among python developers community.

The else clause executes after the

loop completes. It means that the

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loop did not encounter a break

statement.

The program below calculates factors for

numbers between 2 to 10. Else clause returns
numbers which have no factors and are therefore
prime numbers:

for k in range(2, 10):

for y in range(2, k):
if k % y == 0:
print( k, '=', y, '*', round(k/y))
break
else:
print(k, 'is a prime number')

2 is a prime number
3 is a prime number
4 = 2 * 2
5 is a prime number
6 = 2 * 3
7 is a prime number
8 = 2 * 4
9 = 3 * 3

While Loop

While loop is used to execute code repeatedly

until a condition is met. And when the condition
becomes false, the line immediately after the
loop in program is executed.

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i = 1
while i < 10:
print(i)
i += 2 #means i = i + 2
print("new i :", i)

Output:
1
new i : 3
3
new i : 5
5
new i : 7
7
new i : 9
9
new i : 11

While Loop with If-Else Statement

If-Else statement can be used along with While

loop. See the program below -

counter = 1
while (counter <= 5):
if counter < 2:
print("Less than 2")
elif counter > 4:
print("Greater than 4")
else:
print(">= 2 and <=4")
counter += 1

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