What is the difference between an iterator and an iterable in Python?

What is the difference between an iterator and an iterable in Python?

In Python, an iterable is an object that can return its members one at a time, like lists or tuples. An iterator, on the other hand, is an object that implements the iterator protocol, which consists of the methods iter() and next().

Can you give me an example of an iterable and an iterator?

Sure! A list is an iterable. You can create an iterator from it using the iter() function. For example:

my_list = [1, 2, 3]
my_iterator = iter(my_list)

Now, you can use next(my_iterator) to get the elements one by one.

What happens if I try to use next() on an iterator that is exhausted?

If you call next() on an exhausted iterator, it raises a StopIteration exception, indicating that there are no more items to return.

How can I check if an object is iterable?

You can check if an object is iterable by using the isinstance() function with the collections.abc.Iterable class. For example:

from collections.abc import Iterable
isinstance(my_list, Iterable)  # This will return True