How can I make sense of the `else` clause of Python loops?

An if statement runs its else clause if its condition evaluates to false.
Identically, a while loop runs the else clause if its condition evaluates to false.

This rule matches the behavior you described:

• In normal execution, the while loop repeatedly runs until the condition evaluates to false, and therefore naturally exiting the loop runs the else clause.
• When you execute a break statement, you exit out of the loop without evaluating the condition, so the condition cannot evaluate to false and you never run the else clause.
• When you execute a continue statement, you evaluate the condition again, and do exactly what you normally would at the beginning of a loop iteration.
  So, if the condition is true, you keep looping, but if it is false you run the else clause.
• Other methods of exiting the loop, such as return, do not evaluate the condition and therefore do not run the else clause.

for loops behave the same way. Just consider the condition as true if the iterator has more elements, or false otherwise.