How can you exit a loop prematurely in Python?

In Python, the break statement is used to exit a loop prematurely. When the break statement is encountered inside a loop, the loop terminates immediately, and the program continues with the next statement after the loop.

for i in range(10):
    if i == 5:
        break  # Exits the loop when i equals 5
    print(i)  # Prints 0 to 4

The break statement is useful when you need to stop the loop based on a condition, such as finding a specific item in a list or handling an error condition.

Using break provides greater control over loop execution, allowing you to create more dynamic and responsive programs.