Unit-2 (Conditionals & Loops)

PYTHON IF…ELSE

Python if...else Statement

In this article, you will learn to create decisions in a Python program using different forms of
if..else statement.

What are if...else statement in Python?

Decision making is required when we want to execute a code only if a certain condition is
satisfied.

The if…elif…else statement is used in Python for decision making.

Python if Statement Syntax

if test expression:

statement(s)

Here, the program evaluates the test expression and will execute statement(s) only if the
text expression is True.
If the text expression is False, the statement(s) is not executed.
In Python, the body of the if statement is indicated by the indentation. Body starts with an
indentation and the first unindented line marks the end.
Python interprets non-zero values as True. None and 0 are interpreted as False.
Python if Statement Flowchart

Example: Python if Statement

# If the number is positive, we print an appropriate message

num = 3
if num > 0:
print(num, "is a positive number.")
print("This is always printed.")
num = -1
if num > 0:
print(num, "is a positive number.")
print("This is also always printed.")

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When you run the program, the output will be:

3 is a positive number

This is always printed

This is also always printed.

In the above example, num > 0 is the test expression.

The body of if is executed only if this evaluates to True.
When variable num is equal to 3, test expression is true and body inside body of if is
executed.
If variable num is equal to -1, test expression is false and body inside body of if is skipped.
The print() statement falls outside of the if block (unindented). Hence, it is executed
regardless of the test expression.

Python if...else Statement

Syntax of if...else

if test expression:

Body of if

else:

Body of else

The if..else statement evaluates test expression and will execute body of if only
when test condition is True.
If the condition is False, body of else is executed. Indentation is used to separate the
blocks.
Python if..else Flowchart

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 Unit-2 (Conditionals & Loops)

Example of if...else
# Program checks if the number is positive or negative
# And displays an appropriate message
num = 3
# Try these two variations as well.
# num = -5
# num = 0
if num >= 0:
print("Positive or Zero")
else:
print("Negative number")

In the above example, when num is equal to 3, the test expression is true and body of if is
executed and body of else is skipped.
If num is equal to -5, the test expression is false and body of else is executed and body
of if is skipped.
If num is equal to 0, the test expression is true and body of if is executed and body of else is
skipped.

Python if...elif...else Statement

Syntax of if...elif...else

if test expression:

Body of if

elif test expression:

Body of elif

else:

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 Unit-2 (Conditionals & Loops)

Body of else

The elif is short for else if. It allows us to check for multiple expressions.
If the condition for if is False, it checks the condition of the next elif block and so on.
If all the conditions are False, body of else is executed.
Only one block among the several if...elif...else blocks is executed according to the
condition.
The if block can have only one else block. But it can have multiple elif blocks.
Flowchart of if...elif...else

Example of if...elif...else
# In this program,
# we check if the number is positive or
# negative or zero and
# display an appropriate message
num = 3.4
# Try these two variations as well:
# num = 0
# num = -4.5
if num > 0:
print("Positive number")
elif num == 0:
print("Zero")
else:
print("Negative number")

When variable num is positive, Positive number is printed.

If num is equal to 0, Zero is printed.
If num is negative, Negative number is printed

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 Unit-2 (Conditionals & Loops)

Python Nested if statements

We can have a if...elif...else statement inside another if...elif...else statement.
This is called nesting in computer programming.
Any number of these statements can be nested inside one another. Indentation is the only
way to figure out the level of nesting. This can get confusing, so must be avoided if we can.

Python Nested if Example

# In this program, we input a number

# check if the number is positive or
# negative or zero and display
# an appropriate message
# This time we use nested if

num = float(input("Enter a number: "))

if num >= 0:
if num == 0:
print("Zero")
else:
print("Positive number")
else:
print("Negative number")

Output 1

Enter a number: 5
Positive number

Output 2

Enter a number: -1
Negative number

Output 3

Enter a number: 0
Zero

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PYTHON FOR LOOP

Python for Loop

In this article, you'll learn to iterate over a sequence of elements using the different variations
of for loop.

What is for loop in Python?

The for loop in Python is used to iterate over a sequence (list, tuple, string) or other iterable

objects. Iterating over a sequence is called traversal.

Syntax of for Loop

for val in sequence:

Body of for

Here, val is the variable that takes the value of the item inside the sequence on each

iteration.

Loop continues until we reach the last item in the sequence. The body of for loop is

separated from the rest of the code using indentation.

Flowchart of for Loop

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Example: Python for Loop

# Program to find the sum of all numbers stored in a list
# List of numbers
numbers = [6, 5, 3, 8, 4, 2, 5, 4, 11]
# variable to store the sum
sum = 0
# iterate over the list
for val in numbers:
sum = sum+val
# Output: The sum is 48
print("The sum is", sum)

when you run the program, the output will be:

The sum is 48

The range() function

We can generate a sequence of numbers using range() function. range(10) will generate

numbers from 0 to 9 (10 numbers).

We can also define the start, stop and step size as range(start,stop,step size). step

size defaults to 1 if not provided.

This function does not store all the values in memory, it would be inefficient. So it

remembers the start, stop, step size and generates the next number on the go.

To force this function to output all the items, we can use the function list().

The following example will clarify this.

# Output: range(0, 10)

print(range(10))

# Output: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

print(list(range(10)))

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# Output: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

print(list(range(2, 8)))

# Output: [2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17]

print(list(range(2, 20, 3)))

We can use the range() function in for loops to iterate through a sequence of numbers. It can
be combined with the len() function to iterate though a sequence using indexing. Here is an

example.
# Program to iterate through a list using indexing
genre = ['pop', 'rock', 'jazz']
# iterate over the list using index
for i in range(len(genre)):
print("I like", genre[i])

When you run the program, the output will be:

I like pop
I like rock
I like jazz

for loop with else

A for loop can have an optional else block as well. The else part is executed if the items in

the sequence used in for loop exhausts.

break statement can be used to stop a for loop. In such case, the else part is ignored.

Hence, a for loop's else part runs if no break occurs.

Here is an example to illustrate this.

digits = [0, 1, 5]

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for i in digits:
print(i)
else:
print("No items left.")

When you run the program, the output will be:

0
1
5
No items left.

Here, the for loop prints items of the list until the loop exhausts. When the for loop exhausts,
it executes the block of code in the else and prints

No items left.

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PYTHON WHILE LOOP

Python while Loop

Loops are used in programming to repeat a specific block of code. In this article, you will
learn to create a while loop in Python.

What is while loop in Python?

The while loop in Python is used to iterate over a block of code as long as the test
expression (condition) is true.

We generally use this loop when we don't know beforehand, the number of times to iterate.

Syntax of while Loop in Python

while test_expression:

Body of while

In while loop, test expression is checked first. The body of the loop is entered only if
the test_expression evaluates to True. After one iteration, the test expression is checked
again. This process continues until the test_expression evaluates to False.
In Python, the body of the while loop is determined through indentation.

Body starts with indentation and the first unindented line marks the end.

Python interprets any non-zero value as True. None and 0 are interpreted as False.
Flowchart of while Loop

Example: Python while Loop

# Program to add natural

# numbers upto
# sum = 1+2+3+...+n
# To take input from the user,
# n = int(input("Enter n: "))

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n = 10
# initialize sum and counter
sum = 0
i = 1
while i <= n:
sum = sum + i
i = i+1 # update counter
# print the sum
print("The sum is", sum)

When you run the program, the output will be:

Enter n: 10
The sum is 55

In the above program, the test expression will be True as long as our counter variable i is
less than or equal to n (10 in our program).
We need to increase the value of counter variable in the body of the loop. This is very
important (and mostly forgotten). Failing to do so will result in an infinite loop (never ending
loop).

Finally the result is displayed.

while loop with else

Same as that of for loop, we can have an optional else block with while loop as well.
The else part is executed if the condition in the while loop evaluates to False.
The while loop can be terminated with a break statement. In such case, the else part is
ignored. Hence, a while loop's else part runs if no break occurs and the condition is false.
Here is an example to illustrate this.

# Example to illustrate
# the use of else statement
# with the while loop
counter = 0
while counter < 3:
print("Inside loop")
counter = counter + 1
else:
print("Inside else")
Output

Inside loop
Inside loop
Inside loop
Inside else

Here, we use a counter variable to print the string Inside loop three times.
On the forth iteration, the condition in while becomes False. Hence, the else part is
executed.

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Python break and continue

Python break and continue

In this article, you will learn to use break and continue statements to alter the flow of a loop.

What is the use of break and continue in Python?

In Python, break and continue statements can alter the flow of a normal loop.

Loops iterate over a block of code until test expression is false, but sometimes we wish to
terminate the current iteration or even the whole loop without checking test expression.

The break and continue statements are used in these cases.

Python break statement

The break statement terminates the loop containing it. Control of the program flows to the
statement immediately after the body of the loop.

If break statement is inside a nested loop (loop inside another loop), break will terminate the
innermost loop.

Syntax of break

break

Flowchart of break

The working of break statement in for loop and while loop is shown below.

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 Unit-2 (Conditionals & Loops)

Example: Python break

# Use of break statement inside loop
for val in "string":
if val == "i":
break
print(val)
print("The end")

Output

s
t
r
The end

In this program, we iterate through the "string" sequence. We check if the letter is "i",
upon which we break from the loop. Hence, we see in our output that all the letters up
till "i" gets printed. After that, the loop terminates.

Python continue statement

The continue statement is used to skip the rest of the code inside a loop for the current
iteration only. Loop does not terminate but continues on with the next iteration.

Syntax of Continue

continue

Flowchart of continue

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The working of continue statement in for and while loop is shown below.

Example: Python continue

# Program to show the use of continue statement inside loops
for val in "string":
if val == "i":
continue
print(val)
print("The end")

Output

s
t
r
n
g
The end

This program is same as the above example except the break statement has been replaced
with continue.

We continue with the loop, if the string is "i", not executing the rest of the block. Hence, we
see in our output that all the letters except "i" gets printed.

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PYTHON PASS STATEMENT

In this article, you'll learn about pass statement. It is used as a placeholder for future
implementation of functions, loops, etc.

What is pass statement in Python?

In Python programming, pass is a null statement. The difference between
a comment and pass statement in Python is that, while the interpreter ignores a comment
entirely, pass is not ignored.
However, nothing happens when pass is executed. It results into no operation (NOP).

Syntax of pass

pass

We generally use it as a placeholder.

Suppose we have a loop or a function that is not implemented yet, but we want to implement
it in the future. They cannot have an empty body. The interpreter would complain. So, we
use the pass statement to construct a body that does nothing.
Example: pass Statement
# pass is just a placeholder for
# functionality to be added later.
sequence = {'p', 'a', 's', 's'}
for val in sequence:
pass

We can do the same thing in an empty function or class as well.

def function(args):
pass

class example:
pass

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