{"id":12650,"date":"2021-02-17T15:24:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T15:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/?p=12650"},"modified":"2023-04-07T12:50:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T12:50:52","slug":"semicolon-in-python","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askpython.com\/python\/semicolon-in-python","title":{"rendered":"Semicolon in Python"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The common meaning of a semicolon(;) in various programming languages is to end or discontinue the current statement. In programming languages such as C, C++, and Java, it is necessary to use a semicolon to end a line of code. However, this is not the case with Python.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A semicolon in Python signifies separation rather than termination. It allows you to write multiple statements on a single line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many use cases of semicolons than just mentioned above, in this tutorial we will see different uses of semicolons in Python and understand it better with examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are semicolons allowed in Python?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Python does not require semi-colons to terminate statements. Semicolons can be used to delimit statements if you wish to put multiple statements on the same line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A semicolon<\/strong> in Python<\/strong> denotes separation, rather than termination. It allows you to write multiple statements on the same line. This syntax also makes it legal<\/strong> to put a semicolon<\/strong> at the end of a single statement. So, it’s actually two statements and the second one is empty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to print a semicolon in Python?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many people consider the semicolon to be different from other alphabets. Let’s see what happens when we try to print a semicolon as a regular string <\/a>in Python<\/p>\n\n\n

\n>>> print(";")\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n;\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
It treats the semicolon no differently and prints it out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Split Statements with Semicolons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes there is a need to write multiple statements in a line to make the code single liners or for some other reason, in this type of case semicolons are very useful. A semicolon can be used to separate statements in Python.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below is the syntax for using a semicolon to separate two statements, but these statements can be more than two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syntax:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nstatement1; statement2\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this example, we will try to put more than 2 statements in a single line with the use of the semicolon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are the three statements in Python without semicolons:<\/p>\n\n\n
\n>>> print('Hi')\n>>> print('Hello')\n>>> print('Hola!')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Now let’s use the same three statements with semicolons<\/p>\n\n\n
\nprint('Hi'); print('Hello'); print('Hola!')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nHi\nHello\nHola!\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
As you can see, Python executes the three statements individually after we split them with semicolons. Without the use of that, the interpreter would give us an error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using Semicolons with Loops in Python<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In loops like the For loop<\/a>, a semicolon can be used if the whole statement starts with a loop. You use a semicolon to form a coherent statement like the body of the loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this example, we’ll try to loop through two statements separated by a semicolon and see if the loop prints both or just the first one.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nfor i in range (4): print ('Hi') ; print('Hello')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Here we have used the range() method<\/a> to specify a loop to execute statements four times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nHi\nHello\nHi\nHello\nHi\nHello\nHi\nHello\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
In the above output, we can see that it successfully prints both statements the specified number of times, which means it can loop through all the statements separated by semicolons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Python will throw an error if you use a semicolon to separate a normal expression from a block statement i.e loop.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nprint('Hi') ; for i in range (4): print ('Hello')\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\nInvalid Syntax\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this tutorial, we have learned various use cases of a semicolon in Python. Let’s summarize them with two pointers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n