What are control flow statements in Python?

Table of Contents

• Introduction to control flow statements in Python
• 1. continue:
• 2. break:
• 3. pass:
• Key Differences:
• Summary of control flow statements in Python:

Introduction to control flow statements in Python

Continue, break, and pass are control flow statements in Python, that are used to alter the flow of execution within loops or conditional statements. Here’s a breakdown of each:

1. continue:

The continue statement is used to skip the current iteration of a loop and move to the next iteration. When Python encounters a continue statement inside a loop, it stops executing the remaining code inside the loop for the current iteration and jumps to the next iteration.

• Use case: When you want to skip certain steps in the loop under specific conditions but continue processing the rest of the loop.

Example

for i in range(5):
    if i == 2:
        continue  # Skip the iteration when i is 2
    print(i)

2. break:

The break statement is used to exit the loop entirely, regardless of whether the loop condition is still true or not. It terminates the loop and continues with the next statement after the loop.

• Use case: When you want to stop the loop completely after finding the required result or under certain conditions.

Example

for i in range(5):
    if i == 3:
        break  # Exit the loop when i equals 3
    print(i)

3. pass:

The pass statement is a null operation — it does nothing when executed. It’s often used as a placeholder in situations where a statement is syntactically required, but you don’t want to execute any code at that moment.

• Use case: When you want to define a placeholder for code that you plan to implement later, or when you need to define an empty block of code (e.g., in functions, loops, or classes).

Example

for i in range(5):
    if i == 2:
        pass  # Do nothing when i equals 2
    else:
        print(i)

Key Differences:

• continue: Skips the current iteration and continues with the next one.
• break: Terminates the loop entirely.
• pass: Does nothing, often used as a placeholder for future code or in empty loops, functions, or classes.

Example with all three:

for i in range(5):
    if i == 2:
        pass  # Does nothing
    elif i == 3:
        break  # Exits the loop
    else:
        print(i)

Summary of control flow statements in Python:

• continue: Skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next iteration.
• break: Exits the loop completely.
• pass: Does nothing and serves as a placeholder or a “no-op” when you need a syntactically correct block but don’t want to implement any logic yet.

These statements are essential tools for controlling loop behavior and implementing clean, maintainable code in Python.