[Python-Dev] for...else (original) (raw)

Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Tue Jul 25 01:51:10 EDT 2017

On 25 July 2017 at 02:23, Ben Hoyt <benhoyt at gmail.com> wrote:

This is more of a python-ideas discussion, and Steven's answer is good.

I'll just add one thing. Maybe it's obvious to others, but I've liked for...else since I found a kind of mnemonic to help me remember when the "else" part happens: I think of it not as "for ... else" but as "break ... else" -- saying it this way makes it clear to me that the break goes with the else. "If this condition inside the loop is true, break. ... else if we didn't break, do this other thing after the loop."

For folks looking for a more in-depth explanation of the "if-break-else" approach to thinking about this construct: http://python-notes.curiousefficiency.org/en/latest/python_concepts/break_else.html

That article also has a note explaining that we're unlikely to ever change this: http://python-notes.curiousefficiency.org/en/latest/python_concepts/break_else.html#but-couldn-t-python-be-different

Cheers, Nick.

-- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan at gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia

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