What is the difference between break and pass in Python? And about the function Continue?

In this article we’ll learn the difference between break and pass in Python, also, how we use the continue function. When should we use each of these instructions?

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The two magic words: break and continue are used in loops (repeating structures)

And the pass method is used in functions or other occasions where we don’t have the code completely defined, let’s now see each of them in detail.

How to use break

The idea of break is to interrupt a repeating structure, as a for as an example, when it is interpreted by the program, so we can tie this to logic, see an example:

list = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

for i in list:
 if(i == 5):
  break
 else:
  print(i)

Here the list will print up to number 4, after that, it enters the if of break and the loop is ejected

So that’s what break is for

How to use continue

The continue method skips an execution when the instruction is interpreted

That is, instead of stopping the loop completely, it will run the next iteration

Let’s look at an example:

list = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

for i in list:
 if(i % 2 == 0):
  continue
 else:
  print(i)

Here we are running the continue on the even values of the list, so this example will only print the odd values

The output will be:

1
2
3
4
1
3
5
7
9

How to use the pass

The pass must be used when we want a code to be valid, but we do not intend to implement it yet.

That is, it fills a void and lets the code ‘pass’

Check out the example:

def someFunction():
 pass

Notice that you can run the code without getting any interpreter errors

That doesn’t happen if a function is created empty

But it doesn’t stop there, the pass can be used in other functions that the return is uncertain, for example a try with except

Conclusion

In this article we learned the difference between break and pass in Python, as well as continue

We also learned possible implementations of these instructions

Break and continue are used in loops.

The pass can have several use cases, especially when we don’t intend to implement some code yet and we need something to fill it out.

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