More Pythonic Way to Run a Process X Times

Which is more pythonic?

While loop:

count = 0
while count < 50:
    print "Some thing"
    count = count + 1

For loop:

for i in range(50):
    print "Some thing"

Edit: not duplicate because this has answers to determine which is clearer, vs. how to run a range without 'i' -- even though that ended up being the most elegant

Solution 1:

Personally:

for _ in range(50):
    print "Some thing"

if you don't need i. If you use Python < 3 and you want to repeat the loop a lot of times, use xrange as there is no need to generate the whole list beforehand.

Solution 2:

The for loop is definitely more pythonic, as it uses Python's higher level built in functionality to convey what you're doing both more clearly and concisely. The overhead of range vs xrange, and assigning an unused i variable, stem from the absence of a statement like Verilog's repeat statement. The main reason to stick to the for range solution is that other ways are more complex. For instance:

from itertools import repeat

for unused in repeat(None, 10):
    del unused   # redundant and inefficient, the name is clear enough
    print "This is run 10 times"

Using repeat instead of range here is less clear because it's not as well known a function, and more complex because you need to import it. The main style guides if you need a reference are PEP 20 - The Zen of Python and PEP 8 - Style Guide for Python Code.

We also note that the for range version is an explicit example used in both the language reference and tutorial, although in that case the value is used. It does mean the form is bound to be more familiar than the while expansion of a C-style for loop.

Solution 3:

If you are after the side effects that happen within the loop, I'd personally go for the range() approach.

If you care about the result of whatever functions you call within the loop, I'd go for a list comprehension or map approach. Something like this:

def f(n):
    return n * n

results = [f(i) for i in range(50)]
# or using map:
results = map(f, range(50))