Loops in Python

Imagine, you wanna greet a classroom of 50 students, one at a time. Exhausting, right?
In coding, that’s what writing the same task over and over feels like.

Now imagine if you had a smart assistant who says,
“Tell me once, and I’ll do it 50 times — no complaints!”

That’s exactly what loops do in Python.

Whether you want to:

• Print your name 10 times (just for fun 😄)
• Check 100 files for errors
• Show countdowns, progress, or messages

…you don’t have to repeat yourself manually.
Python handles repetition smartly, efficiently, and error-free — like a chaiwala with a robot arm! ☕

Loops make your code shorter, smarter, and much easier to update.
Let’s dive in and see how you can use for, while, and even tweak the flow with break and continue.

Why Use Loops in Python?

Loops make your code:

• Shorter
• More powerful
• Easier to update

The for Loop – Fixed Repetition

Use for when you know how many times you want to run something.

for i in range(5):
    print("Hello!", i)

for i in range(5):
    print("Hello!", i)

👉 What’s Happening?

• range(5) gives 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 (not 5!)
• The loop runs 5 times, printing the message with numbers

You Can Customize It:

for i in range(1, 6):     # 1 to 5
    print(i)

for i in range(1, 6):     # 1 to 5
    print(i)

for i in range(10, 0, -2):  # 10 to 2, step -2
    print(i)

for i in range(10, 0, -2):  # 10 to 2, step -2
    print(i)

The while Loop – Repeat Until False

Use while when you don’t know how many times, but you know the condition.

count = 1

while count <= 5:
    print("Count is:", count)
    count += 1

count = 1

while count <= 5:
    print("Count is:", count)
    count += 1

👉 It runs until the condition count <= 5 becomes False.

Also Read: Conditional Statements in Python

Infinite Loop Warning

If your while condition never becomes false, the loop runs forever!

while True:
    print("This will run forever. Press Ctrl+C to stop!")

while True:
    print("This will run forever. Press Ctrl+C to stop!")

break – Exit the Loop Early

Sometimes, you may want to stop a loop before it finishes.

for i in range(1, 10):
    if i == 5:
        break
    print(i)

for i in range(1, 10):
    if i == 5:
        break
    print(i)

Output: 1 2 3 4
👉 The loop stops when i is 5 — it doesn’t print 5.

continue – Skip and Move On

Use continue to skip the current iteration and go to the next one.

for i in range(1, 6):
    if i == 3:
        continue
    print(i)

for i in range(1, 6):
    if i == 3:
        continue
    print(i)

Output: 1 2 4 5
👉 3 is skipped, not printed.

Use Case: break vs continue

Real-Life Example

Imagine you’re checking through a list of messages:

messages = ["Hello", "Spam", "How are you?", "Spam", "Goodbye"]

for msg in messages:
    if msg == "Spam":
        continue   # Skip spam
    print("Reading:", msg)

messages = ["Hello", "Spam", "How are you?", "Spam", "Goodbye"]

for msg in messages:
    if msg == "Spam":
        continue   # Skip spam
    print("Reading:", msg)

Output:

Reading: Hello
Reading: How are you?
Reading: Goodbye

Try It Yourself: 2 Project Challenges

Time to test what you’ve learned! 💪
Write these two mini Python projects using loops, break, and continue.
(Hint: No full code here — think, write, test!)

Challenge 1: Number Guessing Game

Idea:
The program should ask the user to guess a secret number (like 7). If the guess is wrong, show a message and ask again. When the guess is correct, print a success message and stop the loop.

You must use:

• while loop
• break

Sample Output:

Guess the number: 3  
Wrong guess! Try again.  
Guess the number: 7  
🎉 Correct! You guessed it.

Challenge 2: Print Even Numbers from 1 to 20 (Skip 10)

Idea:
Print even numbers between 1 and 20 using a for loop. But skip number 10 using continue.

You must use:

• for loop
• range()
• continue

Sample Output:

2  
4  
6  
8  
12  
14  
16  
18  
20

Summary

What’s Next?

In the next post, we’ll learn about the Simple ATM Project in Python