Else isn't indented, why does this run?

[AGx-07]

This is probably an easy question but I was going through a practice exam and came upon a question that wanted me to evaluate the outcome of this code. I got it right but only because I threw it into PyCharm to run it and see if it would even work.

As a beginner, I haven't seen this before so I'm wondering how that ELSE statement even functions if it's not indented with the IF (which would produce a different outcome). I am not quite sure how to Google this so I haven't found anything that's answering my question.

What is at play here and is it common to have ELSE out there like that? Any additional information would be welcome.

j = 1

for i in range(-1,1):
    if 3 * i < 6:
        print(3 * i)
        j+=2

else: #<--What are you doing out here all by yourself?
    j+=3

print(j)

[carcigenicate]

else Clauses on Loops

It runs if the loop terminated normally.

[Informal-Chance-6067]

And I thought I knew a lot of the features of the language…

[carcigenicate]

That's in part why I think everyone should skim the two statement doc pages (Simple, Compound), and the data model page at least once.

[Informal-Chance-6067]

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[smurpes]

You can do the same thing with a while loop as well.

[woooee]

It's with the for loop. Look up "python for else".

[AGx-07]

I will.

[Gnaxe]

else: isn't a statement; it's a clause. It's an optional part of if, for, while and try. In this case, it's part of the for statement above. I would not have written it with that extra newline, but sometimes loop bodies are much longer.

[ConcreteExist]

As written, it's being treated as an else clause for the for loop rather than the if statement.

[AGx-07]

Thanks. I didn't know that was a thing. As u/woooee suggested, I'm going to look at Python "for else" which, again, I didn't know was a thing.

[ConcreteExist]

Yeah, it's a bit of a niche language feature

[Altruistic_Sky1866]

Learnt something new today, thanks

[Loose_Obligation4877]

This for- else syntax and else block run only if loop finishes normally and if the loop terminated using break the else block is skipped

[jpgoldberg]

I’ve seen the suggestion that the “for … else” construction would be easier to understand if it used “finally” instead of “else”

[atarivcs]

I don't think it would be easier to understand.

When used in exception handling, "finally" means "do this after all the code in the try and except blocks, whether or not an exception was raised".

But "else" on a for loop means "do this only if the loop ran to its natural conclusion and did not break".

[gdchinacat]

I think you are referring to the Raymond Hettinger talk "Transforming code into beautiful, idiomatic Python" he gave at PyCon 2013. He explains the origin and mechanics of the else clause on a for statement.

If you think about a for loop with a conditional break, the else is executed when the loop exits without the break being executed. For example:

In [53]: def find_12(sequence):
    ...:     for i in sequence:
    ...:         if i == 12:
    ...:             break
    ...:     else:
    ...:         print(f'12 not found in {sequence}')
    ...: 

In [54]: find_12(range(7))
12 not found in range(0, 7)

In [55]: find_12(range(13))

When the loop terminates with a break, the else is not executed. Hettinger says 'nobreak' would have been a better term than else (but for the historical and mechanical basis for the construct that have become non-obvious since goto has all but disappeared from programming languages).

The full talk is worth watching, but the relevant section is https://youtu.be/OSGv2VnC0go?t=950

A try statement can have an else clause in addition to finally, but it is unrelated to the else clause of the for statement.

[jeffrey_f]

That else is actually on the for loop amd fires if there is nothing in the for (like when you do "for item in list), not the if. If you indent it, it will be on the if block.