iter()

The iter() function returns an iterator object.

Syntax

iter(object, sentinel)

• object: A required object parameter. The iter() function returns an iterator object for this.
• sentinel: An optional parameter. If set, the iterator will call the object with no arguments for each call to its __next__() method. If the value returned is equal to sentinel; StopIteration will be raised, otherwise the value will be returned.

Example

The example below demonstrates how the iter() function is used in a Python program:

# Create a list
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

# Get an iterator object
fruit_iter = iter(fruits)

# Iterate over the list using the iterator
print(next(fruit_iter))
print(next(fruit_iter))
print(next(fruit_iter))

In the code above a list is declared, and the iter() function is used to get an iterator object for the list. Finally, the next() function is used to step through the items in the list.

The output will be:

apple
banana
cherry

Applying a Sentinel

The following example applies the optional sentinel parameter through a callable class object (though the __call__() method):

class Countdown:
  def __init__(self,start):
    self.start = start

  def __iter__(self):
    return self

  def __next__(self):
    self.start -= 1
    return self.start

  __call__ = __next__

my_iter = iter(Countdown(10), 0)

for x in my_iter:
  print(x)

The output will be:

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Codebyte Example

When using iterables, it usually isn’t necessary to call iter() or deal with iterator objects. The for loop does this automatically by creating a temporary, unnamed variable to hold the iterator for the duration of the loop.

The following code examples use the iter() function and a for loop to produce the same results:

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