If you are looking for ways to “iterate through a Queue in Python”, keep reading. This article will give you a few methods to loop over a queue with detailed examples and explanations.
Queue in Python
The Queue is a data structure that stores and retrieves items in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) manner. In other words, the first item you add to the Queue will be the first one to be removed.
In Python, you can use the queue.Queue class from the queue module to create a queue. Here is an example of how you can create a queue and add items to it:
Code:
from queue import Queue # Create a queue q = Queue() # Add some items to the Queue q.put("item1") q.put("item2") q.put("item3")
How to Iterate through a Queue in Python
In the first part, we showed you how to create a Queue. Now, we will provide a few methods to iterate through the Queue.
Use a for loop
As with other data structures, you can loop over a Queue by using a “for” loop. The range of the Queue can be taken by the qsize()
method, and the items can be taken by the get()
method. Keep in mind that the get()
method removes the item from the Queue, so by the end of the loop, the Queue will be empty
Code:
from queue import Queue # Create a queue q = Queue() # Enqueue some items q.put("item1") q.put("item2") q.put("item3") # Iterate through the queue for i in range(q.qsize()): item = q.get() print(item)
Result:
item1
item2
item3
Check if the Queue is not empty
Also, you can use the while loop to check if the Queue is not empty, then take each element.
Code
from queue import Queue # Create a queue q = Queue() # Enqueue some items q.put("item1") q.put("item2") q.put("item3") # Iterate through the Queue while not q.empty(): item = q.get() print(item)
Result:
item1
item2
item3
Use the Queue.Queue object’s queue attribute
If you want to iterate through the Queue without removing the items, you can use the object’s queue attribute, a list-like object containing the items in the Queue.
Code:
from queue import Queue # Create a queue q = Queue() # Enqueue some items q.put("item1") q.put("item2") q.put("item3") # Iterate through the Queue for item in q.queue: print(item)
Result:
item1
item2
item3
Summary
In summary, you can iterate through a Queue in Python in two ways: Use the for loop or check if the Queue is not empty, then use the get()
function to pick out each element or use the queue attribute to loop the Queue without picking out the elements.

My name is Robert Collier. I graduated in IT at HUST university. My interest is learning programming languages; my strengths are Python, C, C++, and Machine Learning/Deep Learning/NLP. I will share all the knowledge I have through my articles. Hope you like them.
Name of the university: HUST
Major: IT
Programming Languages: Python, C, C++, Machine Learning/Deep Learning/NLP