[Python-ideas] for/else statements considered harmful

[Devin Jeanpierre]

On Fri, Jun 8, 2012 at 4:04 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:
> Yuval Greenfield writes:
>  > On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org>wrote:
>  >
>  > >    def search_in_iterable(key, iter):
>  > >        for item in iter:
>  > >            if item == key:
>  > >                return some_function_of(item)
>  > >        else:
>  > >            return not_found_default
>  > >
>  > >
>  > You don't need the "else" there. An equivalent:
>
> *You* don't need it.  *I* like it, because it expresses the fact that
> returning a default is a necessary complement to the for loop.

I've never been sure of what is good style here. It's comparable to
these two things:

def foo():
    if bar():
        return baz
    return quux

def foo2():
    if bar():
        return baz
    else:
        return quux

Is there some well-accepted rule of which to use?

-- Devin