While loops, break, and continue

A while loop repeats while its condition is True. Update the value used by the condition so the loop can end. Otherwise it may run indefinitely.

count = 1
while count <= 3:
    print(count)
    count += 1

1
2
3

Stop or skip

break exits the nearest loop. continue skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next one. In a while loop, update the counter before continue so the loop can still finish.

for number in range(1, 7):
    if number == 2:
        continue
    if number == 5:
        break
    print(number)

1
3
4

Why this works

A while loop checks its condition before each iteration. If the condition starts False, its body runs zero times. break stops the nearest loop immediately; continue skips to the next condition check. For counter-based while loops, update the counter before any possible continue to avoid repeating the same value forever.

Practice

Use a while loop to print 1 through 5. Skip printing 3 with continue, and ensure the counter still advances on every iteration.

Try another case

If count starts at 4, how many times does while count <= 3 run?