Question

Is the following code bad practice?

for i in some_values:
    do_whatever(i)
do_more_things(i)

Somehow, it feels to me like the variable i should remain in the scope to the block inside the for-loop. However python 2.7 lets me reuse it after the loop.

Does python officially supports that feature, or am I abusing the language?

Answer 1

Yes, it’s official:

for_stmt ::=  "for" target_list "in" expression_list ":" suite
              ["else" ":" suite]

> The target list is not deleted when the loop is finished 

http://docs.python.org/reference/compound_stmts.html#for

Note that a target list after for is far more than just a variable:

for some_list[blah] in...
for some_object.foo in...
for a[:n] in ...:

etc. These things cannot simply disappear after the loop.