8. Errors and Exceptions

Until now error messages haven't been more than mentioned, but if you have tried out the examples you have probably seen some. There are (at least) two distinguishable kinds of errors: syntax errors and exceptions.

8.1 Syntax Errors

Syntax errors, also known as parsing errors, are perhaps the most common kind of complaint you get while you are still learning Python:

>>> while 1 print 'Hello world'
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    while 1 print 'Hello world'
                ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

The parser repeats the offending line and displays a little `arrow' pointing at the earliest point in the line where the error was detected. The error is caused by (or at least detected at) the token preceding the arrow: in the example, the error is detected at the keyword print, since a colon (":") is missing before it. File name and line number are printed so you know where to look in case the input came from a script.

8.2 Exceptions

Even if a statement or expression is syntactically correct, it may cause an error when an attempt is made to execute it. Errors detected during execution are called exceptions and are not unconditionally fatal: you will soon learn how to handle them in Python programs. Most exceptions are not handled by programs, however, and result in error messages as shown here:

>>> 10 * (1/0)
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo
>>> 4 + spam*3
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
NameError: spam
>>> '2' + 2
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
TypeError: illegal argument type for built-in operation

The last line of the error message indicates what happened. Exceptions come in different types, and the type is printed as part of the message: the types in the example are ZeroDivisionError, NameError and TypeError. The string printed as the exception type is the name of the built-in name for the exception that occurred. This is true for all built-in exceptions, but need not be true for user-defined exceptions (although it is a useful convention). Standard exception names are built-in identifiers (not reserved keywords).

The rest of the line is a detail whose interpretation depends on the exception type; its meaning is dependent on the exception type.

The preceding part of the error message shows the context where the exception happened, in the form of a stack backtrace. In general it contains a stack backtrace listing source lines; however, it will not display lines read from standard input.

The Library Reference lists the built-in exceptions and their meanings.

8.3 Handling Exceptions

It is possible to write programs that handle selected exceptions. Look at the following example, which prints a table of inverses of some floating point numbers:

>>> numbers = [0.3333, 2.5, 0, 10]
>>> for x in numbers:
...     print x,
...     try:
...         print 1.0 / x
...     except ZeroDivisionError:
...         print '*** has no inverse ***'
...     
0.3333 3.00030003
2.5 0.4
0 *** has no inverse ***
10 0.1

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 rest of the try clause is skipped, 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.

A try statement may have more than one except clause, to specify handlers for different exceptions. At most one handler will be executed. Handlers only handle exceptions that occur in the corresponding try clause, not in other handlers of the same try statement. An except clause may name multiple exceptions as a parenthesized list, e.g.:

... except (RuntimeError, TypeError, NameError):
...     pass

The last except clause may omit the exception name(s), to serve as a wildcard. Use this with extreme caution, since it is easy to mask a real programming error in this way!

The try ... except statement has an optional else clause, which must follow all except clauses. It is useful to place code that must be executed if the try clause does not raise an exception. For example:

for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
    try:
        f = open(arg, 'r')
    except IOError:
        print 'cannot open', arg
    else:
        print arg, 'has', len(f.readlines()), 'lines'
        f.close()

When an exception occurs, it may have an associated value, also known as the exceptions's argument. The presence and type of the argument depend on the exception type. For exception types which have an argument, the except clause may specify a variable after the exception name (or list) to receive the argument's value, as follows:

>>> try:
...     spam()
... except NameError, x:
...     print 'name', x, 'undefined'
... 
name spam undefined

If an exception has an argument, it is printed as the last part (`detail') of the message for unhandled exceptions.

Exception handlers don't just handle exceptions if they occur immediately in the try clause, but also if they occur inside functions that are called (even indirectly) in the try clause. For example:

>>> def this_fails():
...     x = 1/0
... 
>>> try:
...     this_fails()
... except ZeroDivisionError, detail:
...     print 'Handling run-time error:', detail
... 
Handling run-time error: integer division or modulo

8.4 Raising Exceptions

The raise statement allows the programmer to force a specified exception to occur. For example:

>>> raise NameError, 'HiThere'
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
NameError: HiThere

The first argument to raise names the exception to be raised. The optional second argument specifies the exception's argument.

8.5 User-defined Exceptions

Programs may name their own exceptions by assigning a string to a variable. For example:

>>> my_exc = 'my_exc'
>>> try:
...     raise my_exc, 2*2
... except my_exc, val:
...     print 'My exception occurred, value:', val
... 
My exception occurred, value: 4
>>> raise my_exc, 1
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1
my_exc: 1

Many standard modules use this to report errors that may occur in functions they define.

8.6 Defining Clean-up Actions

The try statement has another optional clause which is intended to define clean-up actions that must be executed under all circumstances. For example:

>>> try:
...     raise KeyboardInterrupt
... finally:
...     print 'Goodbye, world!'
... 
Goodbye, world!
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "<stdin>", line 2
KeyboardInterrupt

A finally clause is executed whether or not an exception has occurred in the try clause. When an exception has occurred, it is re-raised after the finally clause is executed. The finally clause is also executed ``on the way out'' when the try statement is left via a break or return statement.

A try statement must either have one or more except clauses or one finally clause, but not both.