Python - Break Statement

Python Break statement

The break statement in python is used to terminate the program out of the loop containing it whenever the condition is met.

If the break statement is used in a nested loop (loop inside loop), it will terminate innermost loop after fulfilling the break criteria.

Break statement with While loop

In the example below, break statement is used to get out of the while loop if the value of variable j becomes 4.

j=1
while (j < 10):
  if (j == 4):
    print("Getting out of the loop.")
    break
  print(j)
  j = j + 1

The output of the above code will be:

1
2
3
Getting out of the loop.

Break statement with For loop

Here, the break statement is used to get out of the for loop if the value of variable x becomes 'yellow'.

color = ['red', 'blue', 'green', 'yellow', 'black', 'white'] 
for x in color:
  if(x == 'yellow'):
    print("Getting out of the loop.")
    break
  print(x)

The output of the above code will be:

red
blue
green
Getting out of the loop.

Break statement with Nested loop

In the example below, break statement terminates the inner loop whenever multiplier becomes 100.

# nested loop without break statement	
digits = [1, 2, 3] 
multipliers = [10, 100, 1000]
print("# nested loop without break statement")
for digit in digits:
  for multiplier in multipliers:
    print (digit * multiplier)

The output of the above code will be:

# nested loop without break statement
10
100
1000
20
200
2000
30
300
3000

# nested loop with break statement  
digits = [1, 2, 3] 
multipliers = [10, 100, 1000]
print("# nested loop with break statement")
for digit in digits:
  for multiplier in multipliers:
    if (multiplier == 100):
      break
    print (digit * multiplier)

The output of the above code will be:

# nested loop with break statement
10
20
30