Breaking Outer For-loop

Question

I have two for-loops in python inside while loop as follows:

while ..
  for ..
    for ..
      if condition == True:
         break

I want to break the first for-loop once the condition in the if statement is met, How can I achieve it, it appears that break is only terminating inner for loop and not outer, I want outer for-loop to be terminated.

put the code in a function then use `return` statement – deadshot Aug 21 '20 at 21:48 — deadshot, Aug 21 '20 at 21:48

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 21 '20 at 21:49

1

use a flag to inform outer breaker:

while ..
  for ..
    should_break = False
    for ..
      if condition == True:
         should_break = True
         break
    if should_break: break

answered Aug 21 '20 at 21:49

Ariyan

14,760
31
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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 21 '20 at 21:50

I would attempt to refactor this so you don't have so many nested loops. Maybe move the inner loop into a function? Otherwise you can add the break after the inner loop as well.

while ..
  for ..
    for ..
      if condition == True:
         break
    if condition == True:
      break

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 21 '20 at 21:50

0

Unfortunately, the solution I would use for C programming, a goto command (haters gonna hate), doesn't exist in Python.

I've encountered this situation as well and the best solution I know is the following:

while ...
    breakLoop = False
    for ...:
        for ...:
            if condition:
                breakLoop = True
                break
        if breakLoop:
            break

answered Aug 21 '20 at 21:50

Daniel Walker

6,380
5
22
45

@metron, if you found my answer useful, feel free to upvote it. – Daniel Walker Aug 28 '20 at 17:07

Breaking Outer For-loop

3 Answers3