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Python for Loops and while Loops Explained with Examples (range, break, continue)

P6.6 break and continue in Python Loops

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Why. Sometimes you want to stop early (found what you need) or skip bad items (empty rows).

What. break stops the whole loop. continue skips to the next item.

How.

Control a loop

  1. Add an if inside the loop.
  2. Use break to stop.
  3. Use continue to skip this item.

Worked example A — Stop at the first problem.

Step 1 — What we do. We look for the first negative balance in a list.

Step 2 — Type and run this code.

balances = [500, 230, -40, 900]
for b in balances:
    if b < 0:
        print("First negative:", b)
        break

Step 3 — Output you should see.

First negative: -40

Step 4 — What it means. After finding -40 the loop stops. 900 is never checked.

Worked example B — Skip empty values.

Step 1 — What we do. Some patient temperature readings are missing (None).

Step 2 — Type and run this code.

temps = [98.6, None, 99.1, None, 100.4]
total = 0
count = 0
for t in temps:
    if t is None:
        continue
    total += t
    count += 1
print(round(total / count, 2))

Step 3 — Output you should see.

99.37

Step 4 — What it means. Missing readings are skipped, so the average uses only 3 real values. pandas does this skip automatically for NaN.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

break exits only the innermost loop. Keep loops shallow — two levels deep is usually the limit for readable code.