What are Control Structures?

When writing a program, we often need to control the flow of execution — in other words, decide what happens next and sometimes repeat actions.

A control structure allows us to control the order in which instructions are executed based on certain conditions.

In Python, there are two main types of control structures:

Conditional Statements (Decision-making)
These allow the program to make decisions based on conditions.
For example:
“If it’s raining, take an umbrella. Otherwise, enjoy the sunshine!”

In Python:

if raining:
    print("Take an umbrella")
else:
    print("Enjoy the sunshine")

Loops (Repetition)
These allow the program to repeat certain actions as long as a condition is true or for a specific number of times.
For example:
“Keep watering the plant until the soil is wet.”

In Python:

while not soil_is_wet:
    water_plant()

Or repeat something a fixed number of times:

for i in range(5):
    print("This is repetition number", i + 1)