For Loop Range should include 10?

Q&A
, ,
#1

Screen Link: https://app.dataquest.io/m/1009/lists-and-for-loops-practice-problems/11/understanding-code-5

My Code:
for i in range(10):
print(i)
i = 11

Replace this line with your code

I expected 10 to be part of the result:

code runs and stops at 9:

Replace this line with the output/error

Why is this so?: -->

1 Like
#2

@andreseremba

Range was designed to exclude the stop value.

Kindly check out the range documentation

3 Likes
#3

Hi @andreseremba:

Remember that python is zero-indexed, meaning that the first iteration of the loop starts the iterator i at 0 (unless it is explicitly specified). Since the argument specified in the range argument is 10 (the loop will run for 10 iterations–0 to 9 inclusive) and it is specified in the documentation that the stop value is not included, i will be 9 for the last iteration of the loop, since i is incremented by 1 for each iteration of the loop.

The for loop takes the following format:
for i in range(start, stop, step):

The loop can be re-written as follows:
for i in range(0, 10):
The default value of start is 0 if it is not specified (providing only 1 argument to the range() function makes python treat it as the stop value).

first iteration of the loop starts the iterator i at 0 (unless it is explicitly specified)
To initialise the start value to 1 for example, simply specify it as follows:

for i in range(1, 10):
#              ^ specify start value before the comma

Hope this helps!

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#4

Very Simplified,
Thank you so much.

2 Likes
#5

If it helped you do you mind marking my reply as the solution to benefit others? Thanks!

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#6

I have a question. Why doesn’t (i = 11) force the code to run out of for loop immediately. Even when I tried i = 8, there wasn’t any change in the output and it prints 0 -> 9.

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#7

Hi @srivastava.anurag008 good question. The iterator i depends on the argument(s) specified in the range() function. Thus, trying to assign/reassign a value to the iterator before or after the loop declaration does not work. range() is of immutable type as described in this article meaning you cannot change the value in which the iterator goes over by attempting to change the iterator value.

On the other hand, some of the immutable data types are int, float, decimal, bool, string, tuple, and range .

#does not execute 8 times
i = 8
for i in range(0, 10):
...

#also does not execute 8 times
for i in range(0, 10):
...
i = 8

Here is another article about iterators that you may also find useful in cementing your understanding.

Hope this clarifies.

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How does for loop works here
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#8

Thanks @masterryan.prof
Great explanation.

1 Like