Looping Techniques in Python

Python supports various looping techniques by certain inbuilt functions, in various sequential containers. These methods are primarily very useful in competitive programming and also in various projects which requires a specific technique with loops maintaining the overall structure of code. A lot of time and memory space is been saved as there is no need to declare the extra variables which we declare in the traditional approach of loops.

Where they are used?
Different looping techniques are primarily useful in the places where we don’t need to actually manipulate the structure and order of the overall containers, rather only print the elements for a single-use instance, no in-place change occurs in the container. This can also be used in instances to save time.
Different looping techniques using Python data structures are:

Using enumerate(): enumerate() is used to loop through the containers printing the index number along with the value present in that particular index.

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of enumerate() 

for key, value in enumerate(['The', 'Big', 'Bang', 'Theory']): 

    print(key, value)

Output:

0 The
1 Big
2 Bang
3 Theory

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of enumerate() 

for key, value in enumerate(['Geeks', 'for', 'Geeks', 'is', 'the', 'Best', 'Coding', 'Platform']): 

    print(value, end=' ')

Output:

Geeks for Geeks is the Best Coding Platform

Using zip(): zip() is used to combine 2 similar containers(list-list or dict-dict) printing the values sequentially. The loop exists only till the smaller container ends. A detailed explanation of zip() and enumerate() can be found here.

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of zip() 

# initializing list 

questions = ['name', 'colour', 'shape'] 

answers = ['apple', 'red', 'a circle'] 

# using zip() to combine two containers  
# and print values 

for question, answer in zip(questions, answers): 

    print('What is your {0}?  I am {1}.'.format(question, answer))

Output:

What is your name?  I am apple.
What is your color?  I am red.
What is your shape?  I am a circle.

Using iteritem(): iteritems() is used to loop through the dictionary printing the dictionary key-value pair sequentially.
Using items(): items() performs the similar task on dictionary as iteritems() but have certain disadvantages when compared with iteritems().
- It is very time-consuming. Calling it on large dictionaries consumes quite a lot of time.
- It takes a lot of memory. Sometimes takes double the memory when called on a dictionary.

Example 1:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of iteritems(),items() 

d = { "geeks" : "for", "only" : "geeks" } 

# using iteritems to print the dictionary key-value pair 

print ("The key value pair using iteritems is : ") 

for i,j in d.iteritems(): 

    print i,j 

# using items to print the dictionary key-value pair 

print ("The key value pair using items is : ") 

for i,j in d.items(): 

    print i,j

Output:

The key value pair using iteritems is : 
geeks for
only geeks
The key value pair using items is : 
geeks for
only geeks

Example 2:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of items() 

king = {'Akbar': 'The Great', 'Chandragupta': 'The Maurya',  

        'Modi' : 'The Changer'} 

# using items to print the dictionary key-value pair 

for key, value in king.items(): 

    print(key, value)

Output:

Akbar The Great
Modi The Changer
Chandragupta The Maurya

Using sorted(): sorted() is used to print the container is sorted order. It doesn’t sort the container but just prints the container in sorted order for 1 instance. The use of set() can be combined to remove duplicate occurrences.

Example 1:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of sorted() 

# initializing list 

lis = [ 1 , 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 3 ] 

# using sorted() to print the list in sorted order 

print ("The list in sorted order is : ") 

for i in sorted(lis) : 

    print (i,end=" ") 

print ("\r") 

# using sorted() and set() to print the list in sorted order 
# use of set() removes duplicates. 

print ("The list in sorted order (without duplicates) is : ") 

for i in sorted(set(lis)) : 

    print (i,end=" ")

Output:

The list in sorted order is : 
1 1 2 3 3 5 6 
The list in sorted order (without duplicates) is : 
1 2 3 5 6

Example 2:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of sorted() 

# initializing list 

basket = ['guave', 'orange', 'apple', 'pear',  

          'guava', 'banana', 'grape'] 

# using sorted() and set() to print the list 
#  in sorted order 

for fruit in sorted(set(basket)): 

    print(fruit)

Output:

apple
banana
grape
guava
guave
orange
pear

Using reversed(): reversed() is used to print the values of the container in the reversed order. It does not reflect any changes to the original list

Example 1:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of reversed() 

# initializing list 

lis = [ 1 , 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 3 ] 

# using revered() to print the list in reversed order 

print ("The list in reversed order is : ") 

for i in reversed(lis) : 

    print (i,end=" ")

Output:

The list in reversed order is : 
3 1 2 6 5 3 1

Example 2:

Python3

# python code to demonstrate working of reversed() 

# using reversed() to print in reverse order 

for i in reversed(range(1, 10, 3)): 

    print (i)

Output:

7
4
1

These techniques are quick to use and reduce coding effort. for, while loops need the entire structure of the container to be changed.
These Looping techniques do not require any structural changes to the container. They have keywords that present the exact purpose of usage. Whereas, no pre-predictions or guesses can be made in for, while loop i.e not easily understand the purpose at a glance.
Looping technique makes the code more concise than using for & while looping.

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Oct	NOV	Dec
	16
2019	2020	2021

GeeksforGeeks

Looping Techniques in Python

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