break Statement in Python

In this Python tutorial, we will learn about break statement, and how to use this break statement to abruptly complete the execution of a For loop, While loop, etc., with examples.

Python break

Python break statement is used to come out of a loop without proceeding with the further iterations of the loop.

Python break has to be used only inside a loop. If you use outside a loop, SyntaxError happens.

Once the program control is out of the loop, execution continues with the statements after that loop.

Syntax of break statement

Following is the syntax of Python break statement.

break

Examples

1. For loop with break statement

In the following example, we will use break statement inside Python For loop to come out of the loop and continue with the rest of the statements.

Python Program

for number in [1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12]:
	if number==6:
		break
	print(number)
	
print('Bye')

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Output

1
2
3
5
Bye

If there is no break statement, all the elements of the list would have printed to the console.

2. While loop with break statement

In the following example, we will use break statement inside Python While Loop to come out of the loop and continue with the rest of the statements.

Python Program

i=1
while i < 11:
	if i==6:
		break
	print(i)
	i=i+1
	
print('Bye')

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Output

1
2
3
4
5
Bye

3. break statement outside loop

In the following example, we will try to use break statement outside for or while loop statement.

Python Program

i=1

if i==2:
	break
	
print('Bye')

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Output

File "example1.py", line 4
    break
    ^
SyntaxError: 'break' outside loop

You will get SyntaxError with the message 'break' outside loop if you try to use break statement outside for or while loop.

Conclusion

In this Python Tutorial, we learned how to use Python break statement with for and while loops.