[Lenn0s]

It occurred to me while I was learning Python that Python's "for" is slightly different from C++'s "for".

I noticed that they behave similarly in the way that...

# Python
for i in range(10):
     print x

is equivalent to

// C++
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++)
     cout << x << endl;

... but I was wondering how something like...

# Python
for line in infile.readlines():
     # [...]

... or...

# Python
import string
for numStr in string.split(inString):
     # [...]

... is possible. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

[Atli]

Assuming infile.readline() were to return string::npos when there are no lines left, you might do something like this to get the same behavior:

string line;
while ((line = infile.readlines()) !== string::npos) {
    // [...]
}

You can of course use the for loop as well, if you prefer that syntax. I'm no expert on C++ syntax, but I suppose that could look a little bit like:

string line;
for (string line = infile.readlines(); line !== string::npos; line = infile.readlines()) {
    // [...]
}

[sepp2k]

What do you mean by "how is it possible"? Do you mean how would you implement it in C++? Well, python's for loop is of the form for var in collection: where collection must be iterable and var will be assigned to each element of the collection consecutively. So the C++ equivalent would simply be:

for(collection_type::iterator it = collection.begin(); it < collection.end(); it++) {
   T var = *it;
   // ...
}

Or in C++11:

for(T var: collection) {
    // ...
}

[Lenn0s]

sepp2k, on 11 March 2012 - 09:40 AM, said:

What do you mean by "how is it possible"? Do you mean how would you implement it in C++?

Sorry, my question wasn't clear. I guess I was asking for a breakdown on how Python interprets the for loop, but the C++ equivalents that you both provided was adequate in helping me understand. =)

It also helped that you pointed out that "collection" in for var in collection: must be iterable. I was under the mindset that the conditions only worked with number variables. Thanks!