Advertisement

---

Top

< Prev

Next >

Like most of the computer programming languages, Python also provides us a way to exit an executing loop through its break statement i.e. when the break statement is encountered within an executing looping construct like for, while of a program, it stops executing the remaining statements in the loop and takes the control out of it to execute the first statement right after the loop.

Important points about the break statement

• The break statement must only be declared inside a loop, otherwise, a compile error is issued by the compiler at the time of compilation of the program.


• Within a loop, you can associate the break statement either with or without a conditional statement like if.


• If the break statement is associated with a conditional if statement, then it will execute only when the condition of the if statement is evaluated to true.


• If the break statement is not associated with any conditional statement within a loop, then it will just exit the loop right when it is encountered for the first time.

Why there is no colon : after the break statement?

• We are not required to use a colon: next to the break statement, unlike when declaring a conditional statement like if, else, elif(where Python requires us to use a colon), because a colon is only needed before an upcoming indented block of statements, connected to the conditional statements like if, else, elif or with a looping construct like while, for.

Python - break statement(with an if condition) example

#Python - break statement example


count = [1, 2, 3, 4,5]
for x in count:
        if x==3:
                print("Oops it is 3, time to exit!")
                break
        print("x = ", x)
print("Out of the loop")

Output

x =  1
x =  2
Oops it is 3, time to exit!
Out of the loop

As you can see in the program, the break statement is associated with an if condition i.e. when i is equal to 3, the break statement breaks the execution of the loop and it takes the control out of it, to execute the first statement outside the loop.

Advertisement

Python - break statement(without an if condition)

#Python - break statement example


numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
for x in numbers:
        print("Hello")
        break
        print("x = ", x)
print("Out of the loop")

Output

Hello
Out of the loop

As you can see in this program, the break statement is not associated with any if condition within a loop, hence this break statement breaks the execution of the loop in the first run of the loop and it takes the control out of it, to execute the first statement outside the loop.

Please share this article -

< Prev

Next >

< Python for loop

Python arithmetic operators >

Advertisement