Why does this code return None when I don't put the else statement, but it doesn't return None when I put the else statement?

Question

Why does this return the country codes?

from pygal.maps.world import COUNTRIES 

def get_country_code(country_name): 
    """Return the Pygal 2-digit country code for the given country."""
    for code, name in COUNTRIES.items(): 
        if name == country_name:
            return code 
    return None 

print(get_country_code('Andorra'))
print(get_country_code('United Arab Emirates') 

Why doesn't this return the country codes?

from pygal.maps.world import COUNTRIES 

def get_country_code(country_name): 
    """Return the Pygal 2-digit country code for the given country."""
    for code, name in COUNTRIES.items(): 
        if name == country_name:
            return code 
        return None 

print(get_country_code('Andorra'))
print(get_country_code('United Arab Emirates') 

The main difference is how I indented the 'return None.' Even if I put the else statement it doesn't return the codes. Can someone please explain this to me? I'm new in programming.

Answer 1

The indentation is the difference -- check your indentation closely. in the second example, the return none is INSIDE the for code loop. So it returns None as soon as `if name == country_name' fails once.

Python indentation acts like braces in C-based languages or Begin-End in BASIC dialects. It's the main idiosyncrasy of Python.