Passing information up the stack in an Exception? - python

I am getting an exception deep in some loop in a function in a long running process. If I get an exception, I would like to log a thing that is at the index in the loop at which the exception occurred. Unfortunately, the information that I need isn't available in the current function... it's in the next function up the stack. However, the index isn't available in the next function up the stack, it is only available in the current function. In order to log the appropriate info, I therefore need information from two function calls at different nesting levels. How do I pass information between functions in an Exception?
For example:
def foo():
information_I_need = ["some", "arbitrary", "things"]
data_operated_on = list(range(0, 10*len(information_I_need), 10)) #0,10,20
#NB: these two lists are the same size
try:
bar(data_operated_on)
except ValueError as e:
i = e.get_the_index_where_bar_failed()
print(information_I_need[i])
def bar(aoi):
for i in range(len(aoi)):
try:
fails_on_10(aoi[i])
except ValueError as e:
e.add_the_index_where_bar_failed(i)
raise e
def fails_on_10(n):
if n == 10:
raise ValueError("10 is the worst!")
The expected behavior here would be that a call to foo() prints "arbitrary".
In this example, bar has information (namely, the index i) that foo needs to correctly report the problem. How do I get that information from bar up to foo?

You can add the index as an attribute of the exception object.
It's best to do this with a custom exception class, rather than using one of the built-in exceptions.
class BadInformation(Exception):
def __init__(self, message, index):
# py2/3 compat
# if only targeting py3 you can just use super().__init__(message)
super(BadInformation, self).__init__(message)
self.bad_index = index
def foo():
information_I_need = ["some", "arbitrary", "things"]
data_operated_on = list(range(0, 10*len(information_I_need), 10)) #0,10,20
#NB: these two lists are the same size
try:
bar(data_operated_on)
except BadInformation as e:
i = e.bad_index
print(information_I_need[i])
def bar(aoi):
# if you need both the index and value, use `enumerate()`
for index, value in enumerate(aoi):
try:
fails_on_10(value)
except ValueError as e:
raise BadInformation(str(e), index)
## on py 3 you may want this instead
## to keep the full traceback
# raise BadInformation(str(e), index) from e
def fails_on_10(n):
if n == 10:
raise ValueError("10 is the worst!")

Related

Any trick to override idex() function in Python so exception won't be raised if a string is not found

a = 'abc'
print(a.index('q'))
it obviously returns -1 but also an exception, so my question is simply how to remove the exception from the output and let -1 as the output only.
I would rather say handle the exception instead of trying to override the built-in function like:
try:
ind = string.index(substring)
print (ind)
except:
return f"{substring} does not exist in {string}"
But if you still want to override it here is one of the approach:
def index(string, substring):
try:
ind = string.index(substring)
return ind
except:
return f"{substring} does not exist in {string}"
a = "abc"
print(index(a, 'c'))

Jump to a Top level function if error in sub level function and return flag python

I have a function "main_func" , from which i am calling another function and so on.
class Error(Exception):
"""Base class for other exceptions"""
pass
def main_func():
return sub_func()
def sub_func():
return sub_sub_func()
def sub_sub_func():
return sub_sub_sub_func()
def sub_sub_sub_func():
try:
x = len(10)
res = 'b'
except:
raise Error
return res
main_func()
If you see in sub_sub_sub_func() i have added a line x = len(10) which will cause exception.
What i want is, if this happens, i should directly jump to main_func() and return a flag(str) as 'fail'
I looked into defining custom exceptions , but it didn't helped me.
I want to return after i raise.
len(10) will raise a TypeError you can catch this specific exception in your main_func and do the thing that needs to happen then.
Please note that you need to create an instance of your error class when raising. Error()
class Error(Exception):
"""Base class for other exceptions"""
pass
def main_func():
try:
return sub_func()
except (Error as e):
# The raised error will be cought here.
# Do the stuff that needs to happen here.
return 'fail'
def sub_func():
return sub_sub_func()
def sub_sub_func():
return sub_sub_sub_func()
def sub_sub_sub_func():
try:
x = len(10) # Will raise a `TypeError`
res = 'b'
except:
# `TypeError` that is raised will get here
raise Error()
return res
main_func()
Note: Your custom Error hides a lot of information that can come in handy later. What happened what raised this error. Best is to put the original TypeError as an inner exception to Error.
try:
x = len(10)
except Throwable as e:
raise Error(e)
In theory in your code a potential out of memory exception will be converted to your Error without knowing what happened.

How can I add context to an exception in Python

I would like to add context to an exception like this:
def process(vals):
for key in vals:
try:
do_something(vals[key])
except Exception as ex: # base class. Not sure what to expect.
raise # with context regarding the key that was being processed.
I found a way that is uncharacteristically long winded for Python. Is there a better way than this?
try:
do_something(vals[key])
except Exception as ex:
args = list(ex.args)
if len(args) > 1:
args[0] = "{}: {}".format(key, args[0])
ex.args = tuple(args)
raise # Will re-trhow ValueError with new args[0]
The first item in ex.args is always the message -- if there is any. (Note for some exceptions, such as the one raised by assert False, ex.args is an empty tuple.)
I don't know of a cleaner way to modify the message than reassigning a new tuple to ex.args. (We can't modify the tuple since tuples are immutable).
The code below is similar to yours, except it constructs the tuple without using an intermediate list, it handles the case when ex.args is empty, and to make the code more readable, it hides the boilerplate inside a context manager:
import contextlib
def process(val):
with context(val):
do_something(val)
def do_something(val):
# assert False
return 1/val
#contextlib.contextmanager
def context(msg):
try:
yield
except Exception as ex:
msg = '{}: {}'.format(msg, ex.args[0]) if ex.args else str(msg)
ex.args = (msg,) + ex.args[1:]
raise
process(0)
yields a stack trace with this as the final message:
ZeroDivisionError: 0: division by zero
You could just raise a new exception:
def process(vals):
for key in vals:
try:
do_something(vals[key])
except Exception as ex:
raise Error(key, context=ex)
On Python 3 you don't need to provide the old exception explicitly, it will be available as __context__ attribute on the new exception object and the default exception handler will report it automatically:
def process(vals):
for key in vals:
try:
do_something(vals[key])
except Exception:
raise Error(key)
In you case, you should probably use the explicit raise Error(key) from ex syntax that sets __cause__ attribute on the new exception, see Exception Chaining and Embedded Tracebacks.
If the only issue is the verbosity of the message-amending code in your question; you could encapsulate it in a function:
try:
do_something(vals[key])
except Exception:
reraise_with_context(key=key) # reraise with extra info
where:
import inspect
import sys
def reraise_with_context(**context):
ex = sys.exc_info()[1]
if not context: # use locals from the caller scope
context = inspect.currentframe().f_back.f_locals
extra_info = ", ".join("%s=%s" % item for item in context.items())
amend_message(ex, extra_info)
raise
def amend_message(ex, extra):
msg = '{} with context: {}'.format(ex.args[0], extra) if ex.args else extra
ex.args = (msg,) + ex.args[1:]

What does except really do in Python?

I'm really new in Python and a have no experience with exceptions but I've read all the documentation and couldn't find an answer ... so I'm looking for a deeper view in except's semantics.
When we have for example:
try:
x = 2
except GreaterThanOne:
print("The value is greater than one")
In this case I want the message to be printed.Is there a way for the GreaterThanOne class(exception) to be defined to raise when the entered value is greater than one ?
Ok, let me be more specific ...
Every error raises by a specific rule which should be add in the error attributes, am I right ?
For example:
try:
myvalue = x / y
except ZeroDivisionError:
print("Some error message printed ...")
So when I use this code and enter for y to be 0 the exception ZeroDivisionError will raise ... Can I for example redefine ZeroDivisionError to raise like this but if y is set to be ... 2 or 3 or any other value ?
Input:
x = 10
y = 2
try:
myvalue = x / y
except ZeroDivisionError:
print("division by 2")
Output: division by 2
Here's an example that should help you understand. Run this in your Python interpreter and watch how the exception is raised and caught (or not caught) when you call set_val(2).
# Defining our Exception subclass:
class GreaterThanOne(Exception):
pass
# The global value we pretend to care about:
val = 0
# Function to set a value but possibly raise our new Exception
def set_val(new_val):
if new_val > 1:
raise GreaterThanOne("%d > 1" % new_val)
val = new_val
# Catching exception:
try:
set_val(0)
set_val(1)
set_val(2)
except GreaterThanOne:
print "Whoops - one of those values was greater than one"
# Not catching exception:
set_val(0)
set_val(1)
set_val(2)
set_val(3)
an try-except block catches exception in this block.
try:
#some stuff here
except ExceptionClass as e:
#Exception handling here
the class after the except keyword indicates which kind of exception you want to catch. Usually you give a specific class, like ValueError or KeyError. You can also use the Exception class, to catch any exception. Because all the other exceptionclasses inhert from Exception.
so if you want to use this construct, an exception needs to be raised, Either by a function / method you call, or you raise it yourself with the raise keyword.
like this:
try:
raise KeyError('Just for test')
except KeyError as e:
#Exception handling here
The try except doesn't automagically inspect the whole code between it, it just looks for exceptions... Or to be more specific, it looks for those exceptions you tell it to look for.
Of course you can also inspect the exception instance.
try:
raise KeyError('Just for test')
except KeyError as e:
print e.args
For more information, please see:
http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/errors.html

Python - Continuing after exception at the point of exception

I'm trying to extract data from an xml file. A sample of my code is as follows:
from xml.dom import minidom
dom = minidom.parse("algorithms.xml")
...
parameter = dom.getElementsByTagName("Parameters")[0]
# loop over parameters
try:
while True:
parameter_id = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Parameter")[m].getAttribute("Id")
parameter_name = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Name")[m].lastChild.data
...
parameter_default = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Default")[m].lastChild.data
print parameter_id
print parameter_default
m = m+1
except IndexError:
#reached end of available parameters
pass
#except AttributeError:
#parameter doesn't exist
#?
If all elements for each parameter exist, the code runs correctly. Unfortunately the data I am supplied often has missing entries in it, raising an AttributeError exception. If I simply pass on that error, then any elements that do exist but are retrieved later in the loop than when the exception occurred are skipped, which I don't want. I need some way to continue where the code left off and skip to the next line of code if this specific exception is raised.
The only way to work around this that I can think of would be to override the minidom's class methods and catch the exception there, but that seems far too messy and too much work to handle what should be a very simple and common problem. Is there some easier way to handle this that I am missing?
Instead of "an individual try-except block for every statement", why not abstract out that part?
def getParam(p, tagName, index, post=None):
post = post or lambda i: i
try:
return post(p.getElementsByTagName(tagname)[index])
except AttributeError:
print "informative message"
return None # will happen anyway, but why not be explicit?
then in the loop you could have things like:
parameter_id = getParam(parameter, "Parameter", m, lambda x: x.getAttribute("Id"))
parameter_name = getParam(parameter, "Name", m, lambda x: x.lastChild.data)
...
I think there are two parts to your question. First, you want the loop to continue after the first AttributeError. This you do by moving the try and except into the loop.
Something like this:
try:
while True:
try:
parameter_id = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Parameter")[m].getAttribute("Id")
parameter_name = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Name")[m].lastChild.data
...
parameter_default = parameter.getElementsByTagName("Default")[m].lastChild.data
print parameter_id
print parameter_default
m = m+1
except AttributeError:
print "parameter doesn't exist"
#?
except IndexError:
#reached end of available parameters
pass
The second part is more tricky. But it is nicely solved by the other answer.

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