Control Structures in Python

1
CONTROL STRUCTURES IN PYTHON SUMIT S. SATAM

2
Booleans & Comparisons
In Python, there are two Boolean values: True and False. They can be created
by comparing values, for instances by using the equal operator ==.
Another comparison operator, the not equal operator (!=), evaluates to True if
the items being compares aren’t equal, and False if they are.
Compares both Numbers as well as Strings.
Python also has operators that determine whether the given number (integer
or float) is greater than or smaller than another. These are < and >
respectively.
Also we have, >= Greater than or Equal & <= Smaller than or Equal. Except
they return True when comparing equal numbers.
>>> value = True
>>> value
True
>>> 5 == 15
False
>>> "Hello" == "Hello"
True
>>> "Hi" == "hi"
False
>>> 1 != 1
False
>>> "cat" != "mat"
True

3
Greater than and smaller than operators are also used to compare Strings
lexicographically.
>>> 9 > 4
True
>>> 8 < 8
False
>>> 4 <= 7
True
>>> 8 >= 8.0
True

4
if Statements
You can use if statements to run code if a certain condition holds.
If an expression evaluates to True, some statements are carried out.
Otherwise, they aren’t carried out.
Python uses indentation (white space at the beginning of a line) to delimit
blocks of code. Other languages, such as C, use curly braces to accomplish this,
but in Python indentation is mandatory; programs won’t work without it.
Notice the colon at the end of the expression in the if statement.
As the program contains multiple lines of code, you should create it as a
separate file and run it.
To perform more complex checks, if statements can be nested, one inside the
other.
Where inner if statement will be a part of outer if statement. This is used to
see whether multiple conditions are satisfied.
Output:
if expression:
statements
no = 24
if no > 18:
print("Greater than 18")
if no <= 50:
print("Between 18 & 50")
Greater than 18
Between 18 & 50

5
else Statements
An else statement follows an if statement & contains code that is called when
the if statement evaluates to False.
Output:
You can chain if and else statements to determine which option in a series of
possibilities is true.
X = 4
if x == 8:
print(“Yes”)
else:
print(“No”)
>>>
No
>>>

6
elif Statements
The elif (short of else if) statement is a shortcut to use when chaining if and
else statements. A series of if elif statements can have a final else block, which
is called if none of the if or elif expression is True.
Output:
num = 24
if num == 5:
print("Number is 5")
elif num == 11:
elif num == 24:
else:
print("Number isn't 5,11 or 24")
>>>
Number is 24
>>>

7
Boolean Logic
Python’s Boolean operators are and, or and not.
The and operator takes two arguments, and evaluates as True if, and only if,
both of its arguments are True. Otherwise, it evaluates to False.
Python uses words for its Boolean operators, whereas most other languages
use symbols such as &&, || an !.
Similarly, Boolean or operator takes two arguments. It evaluates to True if
either (or both) of its arguments are True, and False if both arguments are
False.
The result of not True is False, and not False goes to True.
>>> 1 == 1 and 2 == 2
True
>>> 1 == 1 and 2 == 3
False
>>> 1 != 1 and 2 == 2
False
>>> 4 < 2 and 2 > 6
False
>>> not 1 == 1
False
>>> not 7 > 9
True

8
Operator Precedence
Operator Precedence is a very important concept in programming. It is an
extension of the mathematical idea of order of operation.
(multiplication being performed before addition etc.) to include other
operators, such as those in Boolean logic.
The below code shows that == has a higher precedence than or.
>>> False == False or True
True
>>> False == (False or True)
False
>>> (False == False) or True
True

9
List of Python’s operators, from highest precedence to lowest.
** Exponentiation (raise to the power)
~ + - Complement, unary plus and minus
(method names for the last two are +@ and -@)
* / % // Multiply, divide, modulo and floor division
+ - Addition and Subtraction
>> << Right and Left bitwise shift
& Bitwise ‘AND’
^ | Bitwise exclusive ‘OR’ and regular ‘OR’
<= == => Comparison operators
< > == != Equality Operators
= %= /= //= -= += *= **= Assignment Operators
is is not Identity operators
in not in Membership Operators
not or and Logical operators
Operator | Description

10
while Loop
An if statement is run once if its condition evaluates to True, and never if it
evaluates to False.
A while statement is similar, except that it can be run more than once. The
statements inside it are repeatedly executed, as long as the condition holds.
Once it evaluates to False, the next section of code is executed.
Program:
Output:
The infinite loop is a special kind of while loop, it never stops running. Its
condition always remains True.
This program would indefinitely print “In the loop”.
i = 1
while i <= 5:
print(i)
i+=1
print("Finished !")
1
2
3
4
5
Finished !
while 1 == 1:
print(“In the loop”)

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You can stop the program’s execution by using the Ctrl-C shortcut or by closing
the program.
 break
To end a while loop prematurely, the break statement can be used.
When encountered inside a loop, the break statement causes the loop to finish
immediately.
Program:
Output:
i = 0
while 1 == 1:
print(i)
i+=1
if i >= 5:
print("Breaking")
break
print("Finished")
0
1
2
3
4
Breaking
Finished

12
 Continue
Another statement that can be used within loops is continue.
Unlike break, continue jumps back to the top of the loop, rather than stopping
it.
Program:
Output:
i=0
while True:
i+=1
if i == 2:
print("Skipping 2")
continue
if i == 5:
print("Breaking")
break
print(i)
print("Finished")
1
Skipping 2
3
4
Breaking
Finished

13
Lists:
Lists are another type of object in Python. They are used to store an indexed
list of items.
A list is created using square brackets with commas separating items.
The certain item in the list can be accessed by using its index in square
brackets.
Program:
Output:
The first list item’s index is 0, rather than 1, as might be expected.
An empty list can be created with an empty pair of square brackets.
It is perfectly valid to write comma after last item of the list, and it is
encouraged in some cases.
words = ["I","Love","Python"]
print(words[0])
print(words[1])
print(words[2])
I
Love
Python
empty_list = []

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Typically, a list will contain items of a single item type, but it is also possible to
include several different types.
Lists can also be nested within other lists.
Program:
Output:
Lists of lists are often used to represent 2D grids, as Python lacks the
multidimensional arrays that would be used for this in other languages.
number = 33
things = ["String",0,[11,22,number],3.14]
print(things[0])
print(things[1])
print(things[2])
print(things[2][2])
String
0
[11, 22, 33]
33

15
Indexing out of the bounds of possible list values causes an IndexError.
Some types, such as strings, can be indexed like lists. Indexing strings behaves
as though you are indexing a list containing each character in the string.
For other types, such as integers, indexing them isn’t possible, and it causes a
TypeError.
Program:
Output:
Output:
str = “Hello World!”
print(str[6])
>>>
W
>>>

16
List Operations
The items at a certain index in a list can be reassigned.
Example:
Output:
Lists can be added and multiplied in the same way as strings.
Program:
Output:
Lists and strings are similar in many ways – strings can be thought of as lists of
characters that can’t be changed.
>>>
[24,24,55,24,24]
>>>
nums = [24,24,24,24,24]
nums[2] = 55
print(nums)
nums = [1,2,3]
print(nums + [4,5,6])
print(nums *3)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
[1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]

17
To check if an item is in a list, the in operator can be used. It returns True if the
item occurs one or more times in the list, and False if it doesn’t.
Program:
Output:
The in operator is also used to determine whether or not a string is a
substring of another string.
words = ["Donut","Eclair","Froyo","Gingerbread"]
print("Donut" in words)
print("Froyo" in words)
print("Lolipop" in words)
>>>
True
True
False
>>>

18
To check if an item is not in a list, you can use the not operator in one of the
following ways:
Program:
Output:
>>>
True
True
False
False
>>>
nums = [11,22,33]
print(not 44 in nums)
print(44 not in nums)
print(not 22 in nums)
print(22 not in nums)

19
List Functions
Another way of altering lists is using the append method. This adds an item to
the end of an existing list.
Program:
Output:
The dot before append is there because it is a method of the list class.
To get the number of items in a list, you can use the len function.
Program:
Output:
Unlike append, len is a normal function, rather than a method. This means it
is written before the list it is being called on, without a dot.
nums = [1,2,3]
nums.append(4)
print(nums)
>>>
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>>
nums=[1,2,3,4,5]
print(len(nums))
>>>
5
>>>

20
The insert method is similar to append, except that it allows you to insert a
new item at any position in the list, as opposed to just at the end.
Program:
Output:
The index method finds the first occurrence of a list item and returns its index.
If the item isn’t in the list, it raises a ValueError.
Program:
Output:
words = ["Python","Fun"]
index = 1
words.insert(index,"is")
print(words)
2
0
ValueError: 'z' is not in list
>>>
>>>
['Python', 'is', 'Fun']
>>>
letters = ['a','e','i','o','u']
print(letters.index('i'))
print(letters.index('a'))
print(letters.index('z'))

21
There are a few more useful functions and methods for lists.
max(list): Returns the list item with the maximum value.
min(list): Returns the list item with the minimum value.
list.count(obj): Returns a count of how many times an item occurs in a list.
list.remove(obj): Removes an object from a list.
List.reverse(): Reverse objects in a list.

22
Range
The range function creates a sequential list of numbers.
The code below generates a list containing all of the integers, up to 10.
Example:
Output:
The call to list is necessary because range by itself creates a range object, and
this must be converted to a list if you want to use it as one.
If range is called with one argument, it produces an object with values from 0
to that argument. If it is called with two arguments, it produces values from
the first to the second.
Program:
Output:
>>> numbers = list(range(10))
>>> print(numbers)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
>>>
[3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
True
>>>
numbers = list(range(3,8))
print(numbers)
print(range(20) == range(0,20))

23
range can have a third argument, which determines the interval of the
sequence produced. This third argument must be an integer.
Example:
Output:
[5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19]
>>> numbers = list(range(5,20,2))
>>> print(numbers)

24
Loops
Sometimes, you need to perform code on each item in a list. This is called
iteration, and it can be accomplished with a while loop and a counter variable.
Program:
Output:
The example above iterates through all items in the list, accesses them using
their indices, and prints them with exclamation marks.
words = ["Python","Programming","Is","Fun"]
counter = 0
max_index = len(words) - 1
while counter <= max_index:
word = words[counter]
print(word + "!")
counter = counter + 1
>>>
Python!
Programming!
Is!
Fun!
>>>

25
Iterating through a list using a while loop requires quite a lot of code, so
Python provides the for loop as a shortcut that accomplishes the same thing.
The same code from the previous example can be written with a for loop, as
follows:
Program:
Output:
The for loop in Python is like the foreach loop in other languages.
words = ["Python","Programming","Is","Fun"]
for word in words:
print(word + "!")
>>>
Python!
Programming!
Is!
Fun!
>>>

26
The for loop is commonly used to repeat some code a certain number of times.
This is done by combining for loops with range objects.
Program:
Output:
You don’t need to call list on the range object when it is used in a for loop,
because it isn’t being indexed, so a list isn’t required.
for i in range(5):
print("Python!")
>>>
Python!
Python!
Python!
Python!
Python!
>>>

27
You were reading:
1. Basic Concepts In Python
2.Control Structures In Python
 Booleans & Comparisons
 if Statements
 else Statements
 elif Statements
 Boolean Logic
 Operator Precedence
 while Loop
 Lists
 List Operations
 List Functions
 Range
 Loops
3.Functions & Modules In Python
4.Exceptions & Files In Python
5.More Types In Python
6.Functional Programming with Python
7.Object-Oriented Programming with Python
8.Regular Expressions In Python
9.Pythonicness & Packaging

Control Structures in Python

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