In this post , we will explore – How to Check Syntax Errors in Python Code.
You can use various options to check for any syntax errors in Python without executing the script .
Try the below options –
if( aicp_can_see_ads() ) {
}
Option 1 – Using Compilation Script :
- Using Python basic compilation . Use the code below and save it as any .py file e.g pythonSyntaxChecker.py
import sys your_python_script_name = sys.argv[1] source = open(your_python_script_name, 'r').read() + 'n' compile(source, your_python_script_name, 'exec')
- Next run your Python script(say yourPythonScript.py) against the above script
python3 pythonSyntaxChecker.py yourPythonScript.py OR python pythonSyntaxChecker.py yourPythonScript.py
Option 2 – Using Direct Compilation :
- You can directly compile your Python script
- Note the below poinst –
- python returns a non-zero exit code if the compilation fails.
- Also type errors are not detected — those are only detected at runtime
python -m py_compile yourPythonScript.py
Option 3 – Using Pychecker :
- You can use PyChecker to syntax check your python code. Use code below from the command line:
pychecker [options] YOUR_PYTHON_SCRIPT.py
- The [options] provides below features –
- –only –> only warn about files passed on the command line
- -#, –limit –> the maximum number of warnings to be displayed
- –no-shadowbuiltin –> check if a variable shadows a builtin
- -q, –stdlib –> ignore warnings from files under standard library
- -T, –argsused –> unused method/function arguments
- If you want to syntax check multiple Python scripts at one go ,
if( aicp_can_see_ads() ) {
}
pychecker <YOUR_DIR>/*.py
Sample how pychecker shows the syntax errors –
script1.py:5: Imported module (string) not used script1.py:6: Instantiating an object with arguments, but no constructor script1.py:7: Object (useless) has no attribute (valeu) script1.py:8: No local variable (var1) script1.py:9: self is not first method argument
Option 4 – Using Pyflakes :
- Another worthy option to try – https://github.com/PyCQA/pyflakes
pyflakes yourPythonScript.py
Option 5 – Using “ast” module
- The ast module helps to process trees of the Python abstract syntax grammar – basically ast helps to find out the current grammar appearance.
- More here – https://docs.python.org/3/library/ast.html
- Using CLI
python -c "import ast; ast.parse(open('yourPythonScript.py').read())"
- Check syntax of any block of code
import ast tree = ast.parse("print ('This is Great')") ast.dump(tree) "Module(body=[Expr(value=Call(func=Name(id='print', ctx=Load()), args=[Str(s='This is Great')], keywords=[]))])"
- Alternatively use as a python script
import ast, traceback g = '<YOUR PYTHON SCRIPT NAME>' with open(g) as f: source = f.read() valid = True try: ast.parse(source) except SyntaxError: valid = False traceback.print_exc() finally: print(valid) ast.dump(source)
if( aicp_can_see_ads() ) {
}
Hope this write up was helpful.
Other Interesting Reads –
-
How To Create A Kerberos Keytab File ?
-
How To Code a PySpark Cassandra Application ?
-
How To Setup Spark Scala SBT in Eclipse
-
What Are The Most Important Metrics to Monitor in Kafka ?
python syntax check, python syntax, invalid syntax python, python for loop syntax, python if syntax, python, pycharm, django, matplotlib, python online, python programming, python list, learn python, python syntax checker,How do I check Python syntax, How do I check Python syntax online, What is Python basic syntax, What Is syntax check,check python script online,python code tester,how to find error in python code ,pep8 checker,python 3.5 syntax checker,python syntax error,python check function,bug checker python, python syntax checker command line, python 3.5 syntax checker, python syntax error fixer,syntaxerror: invalid syntax python 3,invalid syntax python print,how to resolve name error in python,invalid syntax python def,pylint syntax error,how to find error in python code,file <stdin>”, line 1 syntaxerror: invalid syntax,online python compiler, python find syntax error,How to find syntax error in python,How to solve the python syntax error,What is a syntax error in python,How does Python handle syntax errors,python syntax error,how to find error in python code,python compiler invalid syntax python ,check python script online,python code tester,occurs when a syntax error is raised for a module
if( aicp_can_see_ads() ) {
}
Содержание
- 8. Errors and Exceptions¶
- 8.1. Syntax Errors¶
- 8.2. Exceptions¶
- 8.3. Handling Exceptions¶
- 8.4. Raising Exceptions¶
- 8.5. Exception Chaining¶
- 8.6. User-defined Exceptions¶
- 8.7. Defining Clean-up Actions¶
- 8.8. Predefined Clean-up Actions¶
- 8.9. Raising and Handling Multiple Unrelated Exceptions¶
- 8.10. Enriching Exceptions with Notes¶
- Python syntax checker
- Python code
- User guide
- Python code checker tool
- About Python
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:
The parser repeats the offending line and displays a little вЂarrow’ 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 function 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:
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 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 provides detail based on the type of exception and what caused it.
The preceding part of the error message shows the context where the exception occurred, in the form of a stack traceback. In general it contains a stack traceback listing source lines; however, it will not display lines read from standard input.
Built-in Exceptions 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 asks the user for input until a valid integer has been entered, but allows the user to interrupt the program (using Control — C or whatever the operating system supports); note that a user-generated interruption is signalled by raising the KeyboardInterrupt exception.
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/except block.
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 tuple, for example:
A class in an except clause is compatible with an exception if it is the same class or a base class thereof (but not the other way around — an except clause listing a derived class is not compatible with a base class). For example, the following code will print B, C, D in that order:
Note that if the except clauses were reversed (with except B first), it would have printed B, B, B — the first matching except clause is triggered.
When an exception occurs, it may have associated values, also known as the exception’s arguments. The presence and types of the arguments depend on the exception type.
The except clause may specify a variable after the exception name. The variable is bound to the exception instance which typically has an args attribute that stores the arguments. For convenience, builtin exception types define __str__() to print all the arguments without explicitly accessing .args .
The exception’s __str__() output is printed as the last part (вЂdetail’) of the message for unhandled exceptions.
BaseException is the common base class of all exceptions. One of its subclasses, Exception , is the base class of all the non-fatal exceptions. Exceptions which are not subclasses of Exception are not typically handled, because they are used to indicate that the program should terminate. They include SystemExit which is raised by sys.exit() and KeyboardInterrupt which is raised when a user wishes to interrupt the program.
Exception can be used as a wildcard that catches (almost) everything. However, it is good practice to be as specific as possible with the types of exceptions that we intend to handle, and to allow any unexpected exceptions to propagate on.
The most common pattern for handling Exception is to print or log the exception and then re-raise it (allowing a caller to handle the exception as well):
The try … except statement has an optional else clause, which, when present, must follow all except clauses. It is useful for code that must be executed if the try clause does not raise an exception. For example:
The use of the else clause is better than adding additional code to the try clause because it avoids accidentally catching an exception that wasn’t raised by the code being protected by the try … except statement.
Exception handlers do not handle only exceptions that occur immediately in the try clause, but also those that occur inside functions that are called (even indirectly) in the try clause. For example:
8.4. Raising Exceptions¶
The raise statement allows the programmer to force a specified exception to occur. For example:
The sole argument to raise indicates the exception to be raised. This must be either an exception instance or an exception class (a class that derives from BaseException , such as Exception or one of its subclasses). If an exception class is passed, it will be implicitly instantiated by calling its constructor with no arguments:
If you need to determine whether an exception was raised but don’t intend to handle it, a simpler form of the raise statement allows you to re-raise the exception:
8.5. Exception Chaining¶
If an unhandled exception occurs inside an except section, it will have the exception being handled attached to it and included in the error message:
To indicate that an exception is a direct consequence of another, the raise statement allows an optional from clause:
This can be useful when you are transforming exceptions. For example:
It also allows disabling automatic exception chaining using the from None idiom:
For more information about chaining mechanics, see Built-in Exceptions .
8.6. User-defined Exceptions¶
Programs may name their own exceptions by creating a new exception class (see Classes for more about Python classes). Exceptions should typically be derived from the Exception class, either directly or indirectly.
Exception classes can be defined which do anything any other class can do, but are usually kept simple, often only offering a number of attributes that allow information about the error to be extracted by handlers for the exception.
Most exceptions are defined with names that end in “Error”, similar to the naming of the standard exceptions.
Many standard modules define their own exceptions to report errors that may occur in functions they define.
8.7. 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:
If a finally clause is present, the finally clause will execute as the last task before the try statement completes. The finally clause runs whether or not the try statement produces an exception. The following points discuss more complex cases when an exception occurs:
If an exception occurs during execution of the try clause, the exception may be handled by an except clause. If the exception is not handled by an except clause, the exception is re-raised after the finally clause has been executed.
An exception could occur during execution of an except or else clause. Again, the exception is re-raised after the finally clause has been executed.
If the finally clause executes a break , continue or return statement, exceptions are not re-raised.
If the try statement reaches a break , continue or return statement, the finally clause will execute just prior to the break , continue or return statement’s execution.
If a finally clause includes a return statement, the returned value will be the one from the finally clause’s return statement, not the value from the try clause’s return statement.
A more complicated example:
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.
8.8. Predefined Clean-up Actions¶
Some objects define standard clean-up actions to be undertaken when the object is no longer needed, regardless of whether or not the operation using the object succeeded or failed. Look at the following example, which tries to open a file and print its contents to the screen.
The problem with this code is that it leaves the file open for an indeterminate amount of time after this part of the code has finished executing. This is not an issue in simple scripts, but can be a problem for larger applications. The with statement allows objects like files to be used in a way that ensures they are always cleaned up promptly and correctly.
After the statement is executed, the file f is always closed, even if a problem was encountered while processing the lines. Objects which, like files, provide predefined clean-up actions will indicate this in their documentation.
There are situations where it is necessary to report several exceptions that have occurred. This is often the case in concurrency frameworks, when several tasks may have failed in parallel, but there are also other use cases where it is desirable to continue execution and collect multiple errors rather than raise the first exception.
The builtin ExceptionGroup wraps a list of exception instances so that they can be raised together. It is an exception itself, so it can be caught like any other exception.
By using except* instead of except , we can selectively handle only the exceptions in the group that match a certain type. In the following example, which shows a nested exception group, each except* clause extracts from the group exceptions of a certain type while letting all other exceptions propagate to other clauses and eventually to be reraised.
Note that the exceptions nested in an exception group must be instances, not types. This is because in practice the exceptions would typically be ones that have already been raised and caught by the program, along the following pattern:
8.10. Enriching Exceptions with Notes¶
When an exception is created in order to be raised, it is usually initialized with information that describes the error that has occurred. There are cases where it is useful to add information after the exception was caught. For this purpose, exceptions have a method add_note(note) that accepts a string and adds it to the exception’s notes list. The standard traceback rendering includes all notes, in the order they were added, after the exception.
For example, when collecting exceptions into an exception group, we may want to add context information for the individual errors. In the following each exception in the group has a note indicating when this error has occurred.
Источник
Python syntax checker
Python code
Python checker allows to check your Python code syntax (Python 3), and find Python errors. This Python code checker tool highlights and goes to line with a syntax error.
To check your code, you must copy and paste, drag and drop a Python file or directly type in the Online Python editor below, and click on «Check Python syntax» button.
You can see the user guide to help you to use this python checker tool.
User guide
How to check the syntax of your Python code:
- First, Drag and drop your Python file or copy / paste your Python text directly into the editor above.
- Finally, you must click on «Check Python syntax» button to start code checking.
It is quick and easy to analyze python code!
Python is a server-side scripting language, but can also be used as a general-purpose programming language.
Python error checker tool allows to find syntax errors (lint). You can test your Python code online directly in your browser.
If a syntax error is detected, then the line in error is highlighted, and it jumps to it to save time (no need to search the line).
It can be useful to make online test to save time (deployment . ).
Note: This tool no longer offers sandbox, it was not good enough.
About Python
Python is an interpreted programming language, it features a dynamic type system and automatic memory management (garbage collector). Python is available for many operating systems.It has a large standard library.
Python formatting is visually uncluttered, and often uses English keywords rather than punctuation. Python uses whitespace indentation instead of curly brackets to delimit blocks.
Python is often used as a programming language in high school and higher education, especially in France (I am French).
Источник
Check your Python code security before your next PR commit and get alerts of critical bugs using our free online Python code checker — powered by Snyk Code.
Sign up for unlimited checks, no credit card required.
How to use the free code checker
Get code security right from your IDE
This free code checker can find critical vulnerabilities and security issues with a click. To take your application security to the next level, we recommend using Snyk Code for free right from your IDE.
Python code security powered by Snyk Code
This free web based Python code checker is powered by Snyk Code. Sign up now to get access to all the features including vulnerability alerts, real time scan results, and actionable fix advice within your IDE.
Learn about Snyk Code
Human-in-the-Loop Python Code Checker
Snyk Code is an expert-curated, AI-powered Python code checker that analyzes your code for security issues, providing actionable advice directly from your IDE to help you fix vulnerabilities quickly.
Real-time
Scan and fix source code in minutes.
Actionable
Fix vulns with dev friendly remediation.
Integrated in IDE
Find vulns early to save time & money.
Ecosystems
Integrates into existing workflow.
More than syntax errors
Comprehensive semantic analysis.
AI powered by people
Modern ML directed by security experts.
In-workflow testing
Automatically scan every PR and repo.
CI/CD security gate
Integrate scans into the build process.
Frequently asked questions
A code checker is automated software that statically analyzes source code and detects potential issues. More specifically, an online code checker performs static analysis to surface issues in code quality and security. Most code checkers provide in-depth insights into why a particular line of code was flagged to help software teams implement coding best practices. These code-level checks often measure the syntax, style, and documentation completeness of source code.
What are the benefits of an AI-powered Python code checker?
An AI-powered Python code checker allows organizations to detect and remediate more complex code issues earlier in the secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC). AI algorithms that have been trained by hundreds of thousands of open source projects to capture symbolic AI rules about possible issues and remediation. By leveraging this learned knowledge from the global open source development community, an AI engine can often detect quality and security issues that may not be caught during peer code reviews or pair programming. That means the efficiency of an AI-powered Python code checker enables developers to fix issues very early — before they reach production and potentially impact end-users.
Why is a Python code checker vital to secure development?
A key part of DevSecOps is shifting left — or detecting and remediating vulnerabilities earlier in the development process. Implementing a Python code checker into your existing continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline is one of the most widely accepted best practices. Embedding static analysis into the IDE informs developers of Python vulnerabilities at the earliest possible moment — eliminating Python code security risks at the source.
What is a syntax error in Python?
A Python syntax error is an issue that occurs when Python code is interpreted during execution. Syntax errors are one of three basic types of error, and are almost always fatal because the Python interpreter cannot understand a line of code. Logic errors occur when the code is valid, but the application doesn’t do what the developer intended. Exceptions occur when the Python parser understands a line of code, but the interpreter is unable to execute it during runtime.
Common Python syntax and logical errors
There are a variety of syntax and logical errors, so it’s important to know how to remediate the most common issues that a debugger or code checker may flag. While logical errors aren’t recognized by the Python interpreter, they still prevent the application from performing as the developer originally intended. Here are some tips to avoid some common logical flaws when writing Python code:
- Remember to invoke a function to start the execution of the program.
- Check for infinite loops where the program gets stuck in a recurring code block.
- Use print statements to understand the flow of execution and ensure it’s correct.
- Avoid complex expressions that make code harder to read and debug.
How to use a Python code checker to improve code quality and security practices
Integrating a Python code checker into the existing developer workflow is a great way to fix code issues earlier, while also helping developers learn about best practices. This can make a significant impact on the quality and security of Python code that developers write going forward. More maintainable code can also improve the customer experience because there are fewer bugs and technical debt to deal with in the future.When it comes to static application security testing (SAST) with a Python code checker, it’s important to choose a developer-first tool that integrates into developer workflows and produces minimal false positives in scan results. A SAST tool also needs to take a comprehensive approach for scanning source code, and be able to combine with linters to check code syntax and style.The most common types of SAST security analysis are:CONFIGURATION:
Ensures that application configuration files are following security best practices and policies.SEMANTIC:
Examines code contextually to estimate what the developer intended, and check whether the code syntax differs.DATA FLOW:
Tracks the flow of data from insecure sources to ensure it’s cleansed before consumption by the Python application.STRUCTURAL:
Determines whether there are inconsistencies with implementing language-specific best practices and cryptographic techniques.The Python code checker you use should also leverage a comprehensive vulnerability database to identify security issues at the code level, as well as known vulnerabilities introduced via open source dependencies.Vulnerability databases help developers stay on top of the latest security exploits as they’re discovered, without spending endless hours researching the current cyber threat landscape. This type of data-driven security works in tandem with threat intelligence to improve the overall security posture of your organization.Finally, detecting Python code security issues is only half the battle. An effective code checker solution will identify flaws, while also giving developers the insights they need to remediate them. This should include the precise source of the issue, and any known publicly available fixes for both security flaws and code anti-patterns.
What is Python code security?
Python code security can be described using the CIA triad — confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The CIA triad is often used as a model for secure systems, and to identify possible vulnerabilities and fixes. Today, applications consist of 80 to 90% open source dependencies. But the remaining 10 to 20% is critical: this code reflects your personal IP, and there is no open source community helping you keep it secure. The best practice is to accept the work of the open source community by scanning and updating software dependencies in your project using scanners like Snyk Open Source — while doing your part by scanning and fixing your code using Snyk Code.Confidentiality
Secure software systems do not disclose information to parties that are not allowed to receive it. That includes malicious external actors as well as unauthorized internal stakeholders.Integrity
Secure software systems make sure that data and processes are not tempered with, destroyed, or altered. Transactions succeed when all sub-transactions succeed, and the stored data does not contradict each other.Availability
A secure system also needs to be able to be used in due time. Blocking a system by overloading parts of it renders the system useless and insecure.
What is Python code quality?
Python code quality is a subjective term, and means something different to every development team. In general, however, the quality of code relates to how closely it follows commonly accepted coding standards and best practices. Here are five frequently used measures of code quality to consider when developers ask, how do I check my Python code?
- Reusability
It’s best to write code that’s highly reusable. For example, in object-oriented programming, it’s important to make classes and methods clean and modular, so that code is easier to debug and scale across projects. Restricting access to certain reusable blocks of code through encapsulation can also improve security.
- Maintainability
Along with being reusable, it’s important that Python source code is maintainable. As a codebase grows, complexity and technical debt often increase, leading to bugs that are difficult to pinpoint and slow development in the long run. Automated code analysis and peer reviews can ensure that developers are only pushing highly maintainable code into production.
- Testability
High-quality Python code should support testing efforts. Along with writing modular code that makes automated testing easier, developers need to prioritize clear and up-to-date documentation. This allows test engineers to more easily understand the purpose of a particular code snippet.
- Consistency
Python code should be portable enough that it can run on any development, staging, or production environment without compatibility issues. Docker and other containerization platforms can help ensure Python code and dependencies are consistent across different deployment environments.
- Reliability
Software should be designed for reliability from the start. Meaning developers need to proactively prevent technical debt from accruing when they push Python code. Otherwise, software can become less reliable over time and have a decrease in availability, fault tolerance, data integrity, and ability to recover from outages. These lack of reliability can also have a negative impact on the security posture of an application.Perform a semantic check and secure your Python code in your IDE.
Secure your code as you develop. Snyk’s free IDE plugins scan your Python code for vulnerabilities in real-time and provide fix advice.
Contents | Previous (3.2 More on Functions) | Next (3.4 Modules)
3.3 Error Checking
Although exceptions were introduced earlier, this section fills in some additional
details about error checking and exception handling.
How programs fail
Python performs no checking or validation of function argument types
or values. A function will work on any data that is compatible with
the statements in the function.
def add(x, y): return x + y add(3, 4) # 7 add('Hello', 'World') # 'HelloWorld' add('3', '4') # '34'
If there are errors in a function, they appear at run time (as an exception).
def add(x, y): return x + y >>> add(3, '4') Traceback (most recent call last): ... TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str' >>>
To verify code, there is a strong emphasis on testing (covered later).
Exceptions
Exceptions are used to signal errors.
To raise an exception yourself, use raise
statement.
if name not in authorized: raise RuntimeError(f'{name} not authorized')
To catch an exception use try-except
.
try: authenticate(username) except RuntimeError as e: print(e)
Exception Handling
Exceptions propagate to the first matching except
.
def grok(): ... raise RuntimeError('Whoa!') # Exception raised here def spam(): grok() # Call that will raise exception def bar(): try: spam() except RuntimeError as e: # Exception caught here ... def foo(): try: bar() except RuntimeError as e: # Exception does NOT arrive here ... foo()
To handle the exception, put statements in the except
block. You can add any
statements you want to handle the error.
def grok(): ... raise RuntimeError('Whoa!') def bar(): try: grok() except RuntimeError as e: # Exception caught here statements # Use this statements statements ... bar()
After handling, execution resumes with the first statement after the
try-except
.
def grok(): ... raise RuntimeError('Whoa!') def bar(): try: grok() except RuntimeError as e: # Exception caught here statements statements ... statements # Resumes execution here statements # And continues here ... bar()
Built-in Exceptions
There are about two-dozen built-in exceptions. Usually the name of
the exception is indicative of what’s wrong (e.g., a ValueError
is
raised because you supplied a bad value). This is not an
exhaustive list. Check the documentation for more.
ArithmeticError AssertionError EnvironmentError EOFError ImportError IndexError KeyboardInterrupt KeyError MemoryError NameError ReferenceError RuntimeError SyntaxError SystemError TypeError ValueError
Exception Values
Exceptions have an associated value. It contains more specific
information about what’s wrong.
raise RuntimeError('Invalid user name')
This value is part of the exception instance that’s placed in the variable supplied to except
.
try: ... except RuntimeError as e: # `e` holds the exception raised ...
e
is an instance of the exception type. However, it often looks like a string when
printed.
except RuntimeError as e: print('Failed : Reason', e)
Catching Multiple Errors
You can catch different kinds of exceptions using multiple except
blocks.
try: ... except LookupError as e: ... except RuntimeError as e: ... except IOError as e: ... except KeyboardInterrupt as e: ...
Alternatively, if the statements to handle them is the same, you can group them:
try: ... except (IOError,LookupError,RuntimeError) as e: ...
Catching All Errors
To catch any exception, use Exception
like this:
try: ... except Exception: # DANGER. See below print('An error occurred')
In general, writing code like that is a bad idea because you’ll have
no idea why it failed.
Wrong Way to Catch Errors
Here is the wrong way to use exceptions.
try: go_do_something() except Exception: print('Computer says no')
This catches all possible errors and it may make it impossible to debug
when the code is failing for some reason you didn’t expect at all
(e.g. uninstalled Python module, etc.).
Somewhat Better Approach
If you’re going to catch all errors, this is a more sane approach.
try: go_do_something() except Exception as e: print('Computer says no. Reason :', e)
It reports a specific reason for failure. It is almost always a good
idea to have some mechanism for viewing/reporting errors when you
write code that catches all possible exceptions.
In general though, it’s better to catch the error as narrowly as is
reasonable. Only catch the errors you can actually handle. Let
other errors pass by—maybe some other code can handle them.
Reraising an Exception
Use raise
to propagate a caught error.
try: go_do_something() except Exception as e: print('Computer says no. Reason :', e) raise
This allows you to take action (e.g. logging) and pass the error on to
the caller.
Exception Best Practices
Don’t catch exceptions. Fail fast and loud. If it’s important, someone
else will take care of the problem. Only catch an exception if you
are that someone. That is, only catch errors where you can recover
and sanely keep going.
finally
statement
It specifies code that must run regardless of whether or not an
exception occurs.
lock = Lock() ... lock.acquire() try: ... finally: lock.release() # this will ALWAYS be executed. With and without exception.
Commonly used to safely manage resources (especially locks, files, etc.).
with
statement
In modern code, try-finally
is often replaced with the with
statement.
lock = Lock() with lock: # lock acquired ... # lock released
A more familiar example:
with open(filename) as f: # Use the file ... # File closed
with
defines a usage context for a resource. When execution
leaves that context, resources are released. with
only works with
certain objects that have been specifically programmed to support it.
Exercises
Exercise 3.8: Raising exceptions
The parse_csv()
function you wrote in the last section allows
user-specified columns to be selected, but that only works if the
input data file has column headers.
Modify the code so that an exception gets raised if both the select
and has_headers=False
arguments are passed. For example:
>>> parse_csv('Data/prices.csv', select=['name','price'], has_headers=False) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "fileparse.py", line 9, in parse_csv raise RuntimeError("select argument requires column headers") RuntimeError: select argument requires column headers >>>
Having added this one check, you might ask if you should be performing
other kinds of sanity checks in the function. For example, should you
check that the filename is a string, that types is a list, or anything
of that nature?
As a general rule, it’s usually best to skip such tests and to just
let the program fail on bad inputs. The traceback message will point
at the source of the problem and can assist in debugging.
The main reason for adding the above check is to avoid running the code
in a non-sensical mode (e.g., using a feature that requires column
headers, but simultaneously specifying that there are no headers).
This indicates a programming error on the part of the calling code.
Checking for cases that «aren’t supposed to happen» is often a good idea.
Exercise 3.9: Catching exceptions
The parse_csv()
function you wrote is used to process the entire
contents of a file. However, in the real-world, it’s possible that
input files might have corrupted, missing, or dirty data. Try this
experiment:
>>> portfolio = parse_csv('Data/missing.csv', types=[str, int, float]) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> File "fileparse.py", line 36, in parse_csv row = [func(val) for func, val in zip(types, row)] ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '' >>>
Modify the parse_csv()
function to catch all ValueError
exceptions
generated during record creation and print a warning message for rows
that can’t be converted.
The message should include the row number and information about the
reason why it failed. To test your function, try reading the file
Data/missing.csv
above. For example:
>>> portfolio = parse_csv('Data/missing.csv', types=[str, int, float]) Row 4: Couldn't convert ['MSFT', '', '51.23'] Row 4: Reason invalid literal for int() with base 10: '' Row 7: Couldn't convert ['IBM', '', '70.44'] Row 7: Reason invalid literal for int() with base 10: '' >>> >>> portfolio [{'price': 32.2, 'name': 'AA', 'shares': 100}, {'price': 91.1, 'name': 'IBM', 'shares': 50}, {'price': 83.44, 'name': 'CAT', 'shares': 150}, {'price': 40.37, 'name': 'GE', 'shares': 95}, {'price': 65.1, 'name': 'MSFT', 'shares': 50}] >>>
Exercise 3.10: Silencing Errors
Modify the parse_csv()
function so that parsing error messages can
be silenced if explicitly desired by the user. For example:
>>> portfolio = parse_csv('Data/missing.csv', types=[str,int,float], silence_errors=True) >>> portfolio [{'price': 32.2, 'name': 'AA', 'shares': 100}, {'price': 91.1, 'name': 'IBM', 'shares': 50}, {'price': 83.44, 'name': 'CAT', 'shares': 150}, {'price': 40.37, 'name': 'GE', 'shares': 95}, {'price': 65.1, 'name': 'MSFT', 'shares': 50}] >>>
Error handling is one of the most difficult things to get right in
most programs. As a general rule, you shouldn’t silently ignore
errors. Instead, it’s better to report problems and to give the user
an option to the silence the error message if they choose to do so.
Contents | Previous (3.2 More on Functions) | Next (3.4 Modules)