An exception is an error. These errors are generated when the code is executed. Sometimes, these are also known as Runtime errors because we only get these errors when the code is executed.
There are a lot of Exceptions and we'd just list some of the most seen ones.
This error occurs when a number (integer and float) is divided by zero.
print("First line") # this will be printed
print(1.0 % 0) # there will be an error (halts the program execution)
print("Third line") # this will not be printed
# the output
# First line
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "s.py", line 2, in <module>
# print(1.0%0) # there will be an error (halts the program execution)
# ZeroDivisionError: float moduloThis error occurs when a sequence is out of range. When we try to access an index that does not exist.
even_nums = [2, 4, 6, 8]
# there is no 4th indexed element
print(even_nums[4])
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 3, in <module>
# print(even_nums[4])
# IndexError: list index out of rangeThis error occurs when an imported module can not load or does not exist. We shall discuss more about modules later. Let's say we created a file called sample.py with the function, def hi() that just prints hi and then we used (imported) it in another file, app.py.
sample.py
def hi():
print("hi")app.py
from sample import hello
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 5, in <module>
# from sample import hello
# ImportError: cannot import name 'hello' from 'sample'This will raise an ImportError. hello can not be loaded because it does not exist in sample.py as a function (Attribute).
Consider the sample code for ImportError. We import sample as an object. Objects have attributes and if we try to access or call an attribute that does not exist, we shall get AttributeError.
Here we import sample.py as an object.
import sample
sample.hi()
sample.hello()
# hello # hello from sample.hi()
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "s.py", line 4, in <module>
# sample.hello()
# AttributeError: module 'sample' has no attribute 'hello'Consider a case, where we create a class (an object and we give it an attribute).
class Sample:
def __init__(self):
self.attr = "Here you, an attribute"
obj = Sample()
print(obj.attr)
print(obj.b)
# output
# Here you, an attribute
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 10, in <module>
# print(obj.b)
# AttributeError: 'Sample' object has no attribute 'b'This error occurs when we try to access an undefined variable or object.
print(x)
# Where was x defined
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 1, in <module>
# print(x)
# NameError: name 'x' is not definedIn the case of an object.
s = Home()
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 1, in <module>
# s = Home()
# NameError: name 'Home' is not definedThis error mostly occurs when dealing with types, casting an inappropriate to another type. You can not cast a character (alphabetic or alphanumeric) string to an int.
casting integer string to int. This is still a string but numeric.
print(int("12")) # 12casting float string to int. This is still a string, not numeric or alphanumeric which made up of numbers and alphabets then an underscore.
print(int("12.0"))
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 1, in <module>
# print(int("12.0"))
# ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '12.0'This error occurs when certain operations such as addition, multiplication, etc are done on objects of different (inappropriate) types. Such as trying to add an int to an str.
print(4 + "John Doe")
# output
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "sample.py", line 1, in <module>
# print(4 + "John Doe")
# TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'It is important to handle exception in our code as it will prevent the abrupt halting of the program when running. We can handle these errors with try and except clauses.
try:
# code to check
except (exceptions to handle):
# message# catch ZeroDivisionError
# error generated when dividing by zero
# we shall perform some simple division
# where by we take 2 int inputs from the user
try:
numerator = int(input('Enter the numerator: '))
denominator = int(input('Enter the denominator: '))
result = numerator / denominator
print(f"The result is {result}")
except ZeroDivisionError as z:
print(f'error: {z}')
# with this approach, our program would not crash badly.
# we can also catch this in another hack
numerator = int(input('Enter the numerator: '))
denominator = int(input('Enter the denominator: '))
if denominator == 0:
print(f'ZeroDivisionError: can not divide by zero')
else:
result = numerator / denominator
print(f"The result is {result}")In the above example, it will be best if try and except is used instead.
Let's try to catch any kind of exception using the Exception class.
# Lets catch an Exception without being specific
try:
numerator = input('Enter the numerator: ')
denominator = int(input('Enter the denominator: '))
result = numerator / denominator + rate
# note that the name, rate, is not defined
print(f"The result is {result}")
except Exception as z:
print(f'error: {z}')Let's catch multiple exceptions - as a tuple
try:
numerator = int(input('Enter the numerator: '))
denominator = int(input('Enter the denominator: '))
result = numerator / denominator
print(f"The result is {result}")
except (ZeroDivisionError, NameError, ValueError) as e:
print(f'error: {e}')We can forcefully raise an exception using the raise keyword.
# let raise an exception
# so we take an input from the user and we expect an even number else,
# we raise the exception
try:
user_input = int(input('Enter an even number: '))
if user_input % 2 != 0:
raise ValueError('Even number expected.')
# if we don't know what kind of exception to raise
# just raise Exception
else:
print(f"Cool, you entered, {user_input}")
except Exception as e:
print(f"error: {e}")Fix this code based on the error message generated. Fix the ambiguity of the operator precedence. Update the code to catch specific exceptions.
try:
numerator = input('Enter the numerator: ')
denominator = int(input('Enter the denominator: '))
result = numerator / denominator + rate
print(f"The result is {result}")
except Exception as z:
print(f'error: {z}')- Exceptions are error we get at runtime
- The `Exception class catches all exceptions in general
- Use
tryandcatchto handle exceptions - Raise exception using,
raise Exception_type(message)