# Iterator Protocol

There are two functions specifically for working with iterators.

int `PyIter_Check`(PyObject *o)

  Return true if the object o supports the iterator protocol.

PyObject *`PyIter_Next`(PyObject *o)

  Return the next value from the iteration o. The object must be an iterator (it is up to the caller to check this). If there are no remaining values, returns `NULL` with no exception set. If an error occurs while retrieving the item, returns `NULL` and passes along the exception.

To write a loop which iterates over an iterator, the C code should look something like this:

    PyObject *iterator = PyObject_GetIter(obj);
    PyObject *item;

    if (iterator == NULL) {
        /* propagate error */
    }

    while ((item = PyIter_Next(iterator))) {
        /* do something with item */
        ...
        /* release reference when done */
        Py_DECREF(item);
    }

    Py_DECREF(iterator);

    if (PyErr_Occurred()) {
        /* propagate error */
    }
    else {
        /* continue doing useful work */
    }