If I have a try except block in my python code, and the first line of my try statement raises an exception will it automatically move on to exception or will it finish the try block first?
try:
int(string)
string = "This was a mistake, can't int string"
except:
pass
Here is it checking if it can int(string), which it can't, and then it immediately moves onto except, or does it do the string assignment first?
When I run it, it seems like it stops right away, but I want to know if that's happening for sure or something else.
Thanks
Let's try it.
try:
1/0
print("what?")
except:
print("nope")
Output:
nope
>>>
When an exception is raised it moves on to the except.
From the python docs, I found this,
"The try statement works as follows.
First, the try clause (the statement(s) between the try and except keywords) is executed.
If no exception occurs, the except clause is skipped and execution of the try statement is finished.
If an exception occurs during execution of the try clause, the rest of the clause is skipped. Then if its type matches the exception named after the except keyword, the except clause is executed, and then execution continues after the try statement.
If an exception occurs which does not match the exception named in the except clause, it is passed on to outer try statements; if no handler is found, it is an unhandled exception and execution stops with a message as shown above."
Cheers!
Hope it helps!
#the try block is to run the process
try:
string = "This was a mistake, can't int string"
#you are parsing the string into an int
int(string)
#this block is to capture the exception when it is raised
except:
#here I am just printing the exception
print('Exception')
#the pass is to pass the execution and follow the remaining process.
pass
Output:
Exception
>>>
Well, that the whole point of an error handler. When an error occurs in out program, it crashes, it won't simply skip the error line.
try:
int(string)
string = "This was a mistake, can't int string"
except:
pass
So if the try block finishes even after an error occurred in the middle, then the error handler'd seem a bit pointless.
There seem to be some issue with your program and maybe your understanding of the try except block.
First of all, from the block of code you have provided, it seems to me like string isn't even defined yet when you try to pass int(string).
Secondly, the string variable which you seem to be defining under seems to me like is something you are trying to print to the console once the program spits out an error and passes to the except block. If this is what you are trying to do, then your code should look something like this:
try:
int(string)
except:
print("This was a mistake, can't int string")
If you were to run the code provided above, you would indeed confirm that the try except statement is working as it would print "This was a mistake, can't int string" into the console instead of giving an error. Hope this was somewhat helpful and understandable. You got this chief, keep grinding!
So I want to be efficient in making code in python, and I am doing something like this:
try:
#Code A
except:
#Code A
try:
#Code B
except:
#Code B
try:
#Code B
except:
#Code B
But I want to link all of them to one except block so I can use an else statement to catch em' all! (Reference intended).
So could I do something like the following?
try:
#Code A
try:
#Code B
except:
#Code C
else:
#Code D
I have tried the code, but to my self findings and limited questions that are 'similar' all I get is: Error: invalid syntax "try:". Is there anything I can do about this?
You actually don't need those extra trys at all. Whenever there's an exception raised inside the try block, all code starting there until the end of the block is skipped and the control jumps immediately to the matching except block. And as well, the else block is executed when the try block reachs its end normally. This way you don't need multiple try blocks - just concatenate them into one and you'll achieve your aim.
No you can't have multiple try block associated with only one except block. but you can have muliple except block releated to only one try block.
every try block need except block if you didn't provide one you will have an exception.
example of mulitple except block releated to one try block :-
try:
# do something
pass
except ValueError:
# handle ValueError exception
pass
except (TypeError, ZeroDivisionError):
# handle multiple exceptions
# TypeError and ZeroDivisionError
pass
except:
# handle all other exceptions
pass
suppose you perform some operation in try block and you encountered a problem then first except block will take the control if it can't handle the exception then the below except block will handle it and so on......
Note: if the first except block can handle the exception the next except block does not execute or will not come in action.
It is always good practice to have more generic except block for a specific exception type.
a single try statement with multiple except block
try:
#put your risky code
# put another risky code
pass
# multiple exception block will help to catch exact exception and can perform
# operation
except KeyError:
pass
except IOError:
pass
except ValueError:
pass
except Exception:
pass
else:
pass
In Python's try, except blocks, why does else need to exist if I can just use an except: without a specifier?
It seems like your understanding of how try, except, else, and finally is off.
Here's a summary of how they all work together, from looking at https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/errors.html:
try:
#Try something that might raise an exception
except <exception specifier>:
#Code here will only run if the exception that came up was the one specified
except:
#Except clause without specifier will catch all exceptions
else:
#Executed if try clause doesn't raise exception
#You can only have this else here if you also have except blocks
finally:
#Runs no matter what
I am not sure why we need finally in try...except...finally statements. In my opinion, this code block
try:
run_code1()
except TypeError:
run_code2()
other_code()
is the same with this one using finally:
try:
run_code1()
except TypeError:
run_code2()
finally:
other_code()
Am I missing something?
It makes a difference if you return early:
try:
run_code1()
except TypeError:
run_code2()
return None # The finally block is run before the method returns
finally:
other_code()
Compare to this:
try:
run_code1()
except TypeError:
run_code2()
return None
other_code() # This doesn't get run if there's an exception.
Other situations that can cause differences:
If an exception is thrown inside the except block.
If an exception is thrown in run_code1() but it's not a TypeError.
Other control flow statements such as continue and break statements.
You can use finally to make sure files or resources are closed or released regardless of whether an exception occurs, even if you don't catch the exception. (Or if you don't catch that specific exception.)
myfile = open("test.txt", "w")
try:
myfile.write("the Answer is: ")
myfile.write(42) # raises TypeError, which will be propagated to caller
finally:
myfile.close() # will be executed before TypeError is propagated
In this example you'd be better off using the with statement, but this kind of structure can be used for other kinds of resources.
A few years later, I wrote a blog post about an abuse of finally that readers may find amusing.
They are not equivalent. finally code is run no matter what else happens*.
It is useful for cleanup code that has to run.
*:
As Mark Byers commented, anything causes the process to terminate immediately also prevents the finally-code to run.
The latter could be an os._exit(). or powercut, but an infinite loop or other things also fall into that category.
To add to the other answers above, the finally clause executes no matter what whereas the else clause executes only if an exception was not raised.
For example, writing to a file with no exceptions will output the following:
file = open('test.txt', 'w')
try:
file.write("Testing.")
print("Writing to file.")
except IOError:
print("Could not write to file.")
else:
print("Write successful.")
finally:
file.close()
print("File closed.")
OUTPUT:
Writing to file.
Write successful.
File closed.
If there is an exception, the code will output the following, (note that a deliberate error is caused by keeping the file read-only.
file = open('test.txt', 'r')
try:
file.write("Testing.")
print("Writing to file.")
except IOError:
print("Could not write to file.")
else:
print("Write successful.")
finally:
file.close()
print("File closed.")
OUTPUT:
Could not write to file.
File closed.
We can see that the finally clause executes regardless of an exception. Hope this helps.
Here's a peice of code to clarify the difference:
...
try:
a/b
print('In try block')
except TypeError:
print('In except block')
finally:
print('In finally block')
print('Outside')
a, b = 0, 1
Output:
In try block
In finally block
Outside
(No errors, except block skipped.)
a, b = 1, 0
Output:
In finally block
Traceback (most recent call last):
a/b
ZeroDivisionError: division by zero
(No exception handling is specified for ZeroDivisionError and only the finally block is executed.)
a, b = 0, '1'
Output:
In except block
In finally block
Outside
(Exception is handled properly and the program is not interrupted.)
Note: If you have an except block to handle all types of errors, the finally block will be superfluous.
As explained in the documentation, the finally clause is intended to define clean-up actions that must be executed under all circumstances.
If finally is present, it specifies a ‘cleanup’ handler. The try
clause is executed, including any except and else clauses. If an
exception occurs in any of the clauses and is not handled, the
exception is temporarily saved. The finally clause is executed. If
there is a saved exception it is re-raised at the end of the finally
clause.
An example:
>>> def divide(x, y):
... try:
... result = x / y
... except ZeroDivisionError:
... print("division by zero!")
... else:
... print("result is", result)
... finally:
... print("executing finally clause")
...
>>> divide(2, 1)
result is 2.0
executing finally clause
>>> divide(2, 0)
division by zero!
executing finally clause
>>> divide("2", "1")
executing finally clause
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<stdin>", line 3, in divide
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'str'
As you can see, the finally clause is executed in any event. The TypeError raised by dividing two strings is not handled by the except clause and therefore re-raised after the finally clause has been executed.
In real world applications, the finally clause is useful for releasing external resources (such as files or network connections), regardless of whether the use of the resource was successful.
The code blocks are not equivalent. The finally clause will also be run if run_code1() throws an exception other than TypeError, or if run_code2() throws an exception, while other_code() in the first version wouldn't be run in these cases.
In your first example, what happens if run_code1() raises an exception that is not TypeError? ... other_code() will not be executed.
Compare that with the finally: version: other_code() is guaranteed to be executed regardless of any exception being raised.
Using delphi professionally for some years taught me to safeguard my cleanup routines using finally. Delphi pretty much enforces the use of finally to clean up any resources created before the try block, lest you cause a memory leak. This is also how Java, Python and Ruby works.
resource = create_resource
try:
use resource
finally:
resource.cleanup
and resource will be cleaned up regardless of what you do between try and finally. Also, it won't be cleaned up if execution never reaches the try block. (i.e. create_resource itself throws an exception) It makes your code "exception safe".
As to why you actually need a finally block, not all languages do. In C++ where you have automatically called destructors which enforce cleanup when an exception unrolls the stack. I think this is a step up in the direction of cleaner code compared to try...finally languages.
{
type object1;
smart_pointer<type> object1(new type());
} // destructors are automagically called here in LIFO order so no finally required.
Finally can also be used when you want to run "optional" code before running the code for your main work and that optional code may fail for various reasons.
In the following example, we don't know precisely what kind of exceptions store_some_debug_info might throw.
We could run:
try:
store_some_debug_info()
except Exception:
pass
do_something_really_important()
But, most linters will complain about catching too vague of an exception. Also, since we're choosing to just pass for errors, the except block doesn't really add value.
try:
store_some_debug_info()
finally:
do_something_really_important()
The above code has the same effect as the 1st block of code but is more concise.
finally is for defining "clean up actions". The finally clause is executed in any event before leaving the try statement, whether an exception (even if you do not handle it) has occurred or not.
I second #Byers's example.
Perfect example is as below:
try:
#x = Hello + 20
x = 10 + 20
except:
print 'I am in except block'
x = 20 + 30
else:
print 'I am in else block'
x += 1
finally:
print 'Finally x = %s' %(x)
A try block has just one mandatory clause: The try statement.
The except, else and finally clauses are optional and based on user preference.
finally:
Before Python leaves the try statement, it will run the code in the finally block under any conditions, even if it's ending the program. E.g., if Python ran into an error while running code in the except or else block, the finally block will still be executed before stopping the program.
Try running this code first without a finally block,
1 / 0 causes a divide by zero error.
try:
1 / 0
print(1)
except Exception as e:
1 / 0
print(e)
Then try running this code,
try:
1 / 0
print(1)
except Exception as e:
1 / 0
print(e)
finally:
print('finally')
For the first case you don't have a finally block,
So when an error occurs in the except block the program execution halts and you cannot execute anything after the except block.
But for the second case,
The error occurs but before the program halts python executes the finally block first and then causes the program to halt.
Thats is why you use finally and do stuff that is really important.
Run these Python3 codes to watch the need of finally:
CASE1:
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
if count > 3:
break
else:
try:
x = int(input("Enter your lock number here: "))
if x == 586:
print("Your lock has unlocked :)")
break
else:
print("Try again!!")
continue
except:
print("Invalid entry!!")
finally:
print("Your Attempts: {}".format(count))
CASE2:
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
if count > 3:
break
else:
try:
x = int(input("Enter your lock number here: "))
if x == 586:
print("Your lock has unlocked :)")
break
else:
print("Try again!!")
continue
except:
print("Invalid entry!!")
print("Your Attempts: {}".format(count))
Try the following inputs each time:
random integers
correct code which is 586(Try this and you will get your answer)
random strings
** At a very early stage of learning Python.
I was trying to run a code where i wanted to read excel sheets. Issue was, if there is a file which has no sheet named say : SheetSum I am not able to move it to error location!! Code i wrote was:
def read_file(data_file):
# data_file = '\rr\ex.xlsx'
sheets = {}
try:
print("Reading file: "+data_file)
sheets['df_1'] = pd.read_excel(open(data_file,'rb'), 'SheetSum')
except Exception as excpt:
print("Exception occurred", exc_info=True)
return sheets
read_file(file)
shutil.move( file, dirpath +'\\processed_files')
Giving Error :
[WinError 32] The process cannot access the file because it is being
used by another process
I had to add full try except with finally block and tell finally i need to close the file in any case like:
def read_file(data_file):
# data_file = '\rr\ex.xlsx'
sheets = {}
sheets_file = None
try:
print("Reading file: "+data_file)
sheets_file = open(data_file,'rb')
sheets['df_1'] = pd.read_excel(sheets_file, 'SheetSum')
except Exception as excpt:
print("Exception occurred", exc_info=True)
finally:
if sheets_file:
sheets_file.close()
return sheets
read_file(file)
shutil.move( file, dirpath +'\\processed_files')
Otherwise, file still remains open is the background.
If finally is present, it specifies a cleanup handler. The try
clause is executed, including any except and else clauses. If an
exception occurs in any of the clauses and is not handled, the
exception is temporarily saved. The finally clause is executed. If
there is a saved exception it is re-raised at the end of the finally
clause. If the finally clause raises another exception, the saved
exception is set as the context of the new exception.
..More Here
Just to enable Abhijit Sahu's comment on this answer to be seen much better and with syntax highlighting:
Like this, you can observe what happens with which code block when:
try:
x = Hello + 20
x = 10 + 20
except:
print 'I am in except block'
x = 20 + 30
else:
print 'I am in else block'
x += 1
finally:
print 'Finally x = %s' %(x)
Here you can see how try, except, else, and finally work together. Actually, since your code doesn't have 'else' then what you claimed is right. I.e., There is no difference between the two statements that you wrote. But if 'else' is used somewhere, then 'finally' makes a difference
I was wondering if in python there was a simple way to run code if a try statement was successful that wasn't in the try statement itself. Is that what the else or finally commands do (I didn't understand their documentation)? I know I could use code like this:
successful = False
try:
#code that might fail
successful = True
except:
#error handling if code failed
if successful:
#code to run if try was successful that isn't part of try
but I was wondering if there was a shorter way.
You want else:
for i in [0, 1]:
try:
print '10 / %i: ' % i, 10 / i
except:
print 'Uh-Oh'
else:
print 'Yay!'
You are looking for the else keyword:
try:
#code that might fail
except SomeException:
#error handling if code failed
else:
# do this if no exception occured
Your try block should be the code you want to execute, and your except should be killing the program. I'd need to understand your object better to give a better answer.
In OO programming, you want to "Tell, don't ask" so keep all the logic that should happen in the try block, and then your error handling in the except block.