How can I reset a loop that iterates over a set? A common answer for iterating over a list is to reset the index you are using to access the list, however sets do not support indices.

The point is to be able to iterate over a large set of objects, perform some action against each element until a result matches the result I require. The functionality I am searching for is the ability to reset a loop. Meaning restart the iteration from the beginning to ensure I visit every element again for whatever reason.

How can I reset the following loop?

for element in some_set:print elementif element + offset == needed_result:# reset

I'm using python 2.7 for this specific problem, but I'd also welcome python 3 solutions.

One way to do so would be by using iterators. You could define an iterator by simply calling iter() on your set, and call its next method on each iteration. When the condition is met, you can simply create again the iterator object from the set and repeat the process:

s = {1,2,3,4,5}
s_ = iter(s)
# Just a counter to avoid endless loop
cont = 0
while cont < 10:try:i = next(s_)except StopIteration:break# Some conditionif flag == True: # Reset the iterator when the condition is mets_ = iter(s) continuecont += 1