Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.python > #20791

Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty

Followups directed to: gmane.comp.python.general

Show all headers | View raw

Ethan Furman wrote:

> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> On Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:30:09 -0800, Alex Willmer wrote:
>> 
>>> This week I was slightly surprised by a behaviour that I've not
>>> considered before. I've long used
>>>
>>> for i, x in enumerate(seq):
>>>    # do stuff
>>>
>>> as a standard looping-with-index construct. In Python for loops don't
>>> create a scope, so the loop variables are available afterward. I've
>>> sometimes used this to print or return a record count e.g.
>>>
>>> for i, x in enumerate(seq):
>>>    # do stuff
>>> print 'Processed %i records' % i+1
>>>
>>> However as I found out, if seq is empty then i and x are never created.
>> 
>> This has nothing to do with enumerate. It applies to for loops in
>> general: the loop variable is not initialised if the loop never runs.
>> What value should it take? Zero? Minus one? The empty string? None?
>> Whatever answer Python choose would be almost always wrong, so it refuses
>> to guess.
>> 
>> 
>>> The above code will raise NameError. So if a record count is needed, and
>>> the loop is not guaranteed to execute the following seems more correct:
>>>
>>> i = 0
>>> for x in seq:
>>>     # do stuff
>>>     i += 1
>>> print 'Processed %i records' % i
>> 
>> What fixes the problem is not avoiding enumerate, or performing the
>> increments in slow Python instead of fast C, but that you initialise the
>> loop variable you care about before the loop in case it doesn't run.
>> 
>> i = 0
>> for i,x in enumerate(seq):
>>     # do stuff
>> 
>> is all you need: the addition of one extra line, to initialise the loop
>> variable i (and, if you need it, x) before hand.
> 
> Actually,
> 
> i = -1
> 
> or his reporting will be wrong.

Yes, either

i = -1
for i, x in enumerate(seq):
    ...
print "%d records" % (i+1)

or

i = 0
for i, x in enumerate(seq, 1):
    ...
print "%d records" % i

Back to comp.lang.python | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Alex Willmer <alex@moreati.org.uk> - 2012-02-23 16:30 -0800
  Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-02-24 01:08 +0000
    Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2012-02-23 19:49 -0800
    Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-02-24 07:10 +0000
    Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2012-02-24 09:44 +0100
  Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2012-02-23 17:21 -0800
  Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2012-02-24 04:32 -0800
    Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2012-02-24 13:44 +0100
      Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2012-02-24 14:14 +0100
      Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-02-24 14:54 +0000
        Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Arnaud Delobelle <arnodel@gmail.com> - 2012-02-24 15:00 +0000
        Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2012-02-24 16:16 +0100
        Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Rick Johnson <rantingrickjohnson@gmail.com> - 2012-02-28 14:56 -0800
          Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-02-29 10:24 +1100
            Re: A quirk/gotcha of for i, x in enumerate(seq) when seq is empty Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-02-29 00:18 +0000

csiph-web