Python Control Structures Introduction

Python provides several types of control structures, which can be broadly classified into three main categories:

Conditional Statements

These include if, elif, and else statements. They are used to execute different blocks of code based on certain conditions. Conditional statements help in making decisions within the program and act on data differently depending on the input or other computed values.

Looping Constructs

Python supports commonly used loops like for and while. For loops are ideal for iterating over a sequence (such as a list, tuple, dictionary, or string) and executing a block of code a specified number of times. While loops keep running as long as a specified condition is true, which is useful for repeating actions until a certain state is reached.

Control Flow Tools

Python includes tools like break and continue which are used within looping constructs to alter their normal behavior. break is used to exit a loop prematurely, while continue skips the current iteration and returns to the loop condition.

In addition to these, Python also allows for more complex control structures through the use of functions and exception handling, which further extend a programmer’s ability to manage program flow and handle errors effectively.