Core developer Raymond Hettinger explains the history starting at 15:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSGv2VnC0go
(which I found on stackoverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9979970/why-does-python-use-else-after-for-and-while-loops ) TL:DR The “else” is a historical artificial from the way developers thought during the transition from unstructured (i.e. “GOTO”) programming to structured programming. Since we all do structured now, it seems odd. From: Python-list <python-list-bounces+gweatherby=uchc....@python.org> on behalf of Calvin Spealman <cspea...@redhat.com> Date: Monday, October 10, 2022 at 10:38 AM To: python-list@python.org <python-list@python.org> Subject: Re: for -- else: what was the motivation? *** Attention: This is an external email. Use caution responding, opening attachments or clicking on links. *** On Sat, Oct 8, 2022 at 5:35 PM rbowman <bow...@montana.com> wrote: > On 10/7/22 21:32, Axy wrote: > > So, seriously, why they needed else if the following pieces produce same > > result? Does anyone know or remember their motivation? > > In real scenarios there would be more logic in the for block that would > meet a condition and break out of the loop. If the condition is never > met, the else block runs. To steal from w3schools: > > > fruits = ["apple", "peach", "cherry"] > for x in fruits: > print(x) > if x == "banana": > break > else: > print("Yes we got no bananas") > I wonder if for/else could have been less confusing if it was referred to as for-break-else and if the else clause was only valid syntax if the for loop actually contained a break statement in the first place. -- CALVIN SPEALMAN SENIOR QUALITY ENGINEER calvin.speal...@redhat.com M: +1.336.210.5107 [image: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://red.ht/sig__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihhXbt2Z5$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/red.ht/sig__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihhXbt2Z5$> ] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://red.ht/sig__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihhXbt2Z5$ > TRIED. TESTED. TRUSTED. <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://redhat.com/trusted__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihjGGi9WT$ > -- https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihnTgBbx-$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list__;!!Cn_UX_p3!lSA-VzlSq_UQvMUO2npcFCxacA2jOlt2ZD6LCiwdfMGpYexlKgYpIgDCxlHPs473PNyH7cww2ufihnTgBbx-$> -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
