How can I make sense of the `else` clause of Python loops? [closed]

Answer 1

Usually I tend to think of a loop structure like this:

for item in my_sequence:
    if logic(item):
        do_something(item)
        break

To be a lot like a variable number of if/elif statements:

if logic(my_seq[0]):
    do_something(my_seq[0])
elif logic(my_seq[1]):
    do_something(my_seq[1])
elif logic(my_seq[2]):
    do_something(my_seq[2])
....
elif logic(my_seq[-1]):
    do_something(my_seq[-1])

In this case the else statement on the for loop works exactly like the else statement on the chain of elifs, it only executes if none of the conditions before it evaluate to True. (or break execution with return or an exception) If my loop does not fit this specification usually I choose to opt out of using for: else for the exact reason you posted this question: it is non-intuitive.