4. Exception Handling
Keywords: api

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4. Exception Handling

The functions described in this chapter will let you handle and raise Python exceptions. It is important to understand some of the basics of Python exception handling. It works somewhat like the Unix `errno` variable: there is a global indicator (per thread) of the last error that occurred. Most functions don't clear this on success, but will set it to indicate the cause of the error on failure. Most functions also return an error indicator, usually `NULL` if they are supposed to return a pointer, or `-1` if they return an integer (exception: the `PyArg_Parse*()` functions return `1` for success and `0` for failure). When a function must fail because some function it called failed, it generally doesn't set the error indicator; the function it called already set it.

The error indicator consists of three Python objects corresponding to the Python variables `sys.exc_type`, `sys.exc_value` and `sys.exc_traceback`. API functions exist to interact with the error indicator in various ways. There is a separate error indicator for each thread.

void `PyErr_Print` ()
  Print a standard traceback to `sys.stderr` and clear the error indicator. Call this function only when the error indicator is set. (Otherwise it will cause a fatal error!)

PyObject* `PyErr_Occurred` ()
  Return value: Borrowed reference.
  Test whether the error indicator is set. If set, return the exception type (the first argument to the last call to one of the `PyErr_Set*()` functions or to `PyErr_Restore()`). If not set, return `NULL`. You do not own a reference to the return value, so you do not need to `Py_DECREF()` it. Note: Do not compare the return value to a specific exception; use `PyErr_ExceptionMatches()` instead, shown below. (The comparison could easily fail since the exception may be an instance instead of a class, in the case of a class exception, or it may the a subclass of the expected exception.)

int `PyErr_ExceptionMatches` (PyObject *exc)
  Equivalent to "`PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches(PyErr_Occurred(), exc)`". This should only be called when an exception is actually set; a memory access violation will occur if no exception has been raised.

int `PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches` (PyObject *given, PyObject *exc)
  Return true if the given exception matches the exception in exc. If exc is a class object, this also returns true when given is an instance of a subclass. If exc is a tuple, all exceptions in the tuple (and recursively in subtuples) are searched for a match. If given is `NULL`, a memory access violation will occur.

void `PyErr_NormalizeException` (PyObject**exc, PyObject**val, PyObject**tb)
  Under certain circumstances, the values returned by `PyErr_Fetch()` below can be ``unnormalized'', meaning that `*exc` is a class object but `*val` is not an instance of the same class. This function can be used to instantiate the class in that case. If the values are already normalized, nothing happens. The delayed normalization is implemented to improve performance.

void `PyErr_Clear` ()
  Clear the error indicator. If the error indicator is not set, there is no effect.

void `PyErr_Fetch` (PyObject **ptype, PyObject **pvalue, PyObject **ptraceback)
  Retrieve the error indicator into three variables whose addresses are passed. If the error indicator is not set, set all three variables to `NULL`. If it is set, it will be cleared and you own a reference to each object retrieved. The value and traceback object may be `NULL` even when the type object is not. Note: This function is normally only used by code that needs to handle exceptions or by code that needs to save and restore the error indicator temporarily.

void `PyErr_Restore` (PyObject *type, PyObject *value, PyObject *traceback)
  Set the error indicator from the three objects. If the error indicator is already set, it is cleared first. If the objects are `NULL`, the error indicator is cleared. Do not pass a `NULL` type and non-`NULL` value or traceback. The exception type should be a string or class; if it is a class, the value should be an instance of that class. Do not pass an invalid exception type or value. (Violating these rules will cause subtle problems later.) This call takes away a reference to each object, i.e. you must own a reference to each object before the call and after the call you no longer own these references. (If you don't understand this, don't use this function. I warned you.) Note: This function is normally only used by code that needs to save and restore the error indicator temporarily.

void `PyErr_SetString` (PyObject *type, char *message)
  This is the most common way to set the error indicator. The first argument specifies the exception type; it is normally one of the standard exceptions, e.g. `PyExc_RuntimeError`. You need not increment its reference count. The second argument is an error message; it is converted to a string object.

void `PyErr_SetObject` (PyObject *type, PyObject *value)
  This function is similar to `PyErr_SetString()` but lets you specify an arbitrary Python object for the ``value'' of the exception. You need not increment its reference count.

PyObject* `PyErr_Format` (PyObject *exception, const char *format, ...)
  Return value: Always `NULL`.
  This function sets the error indicator. exception should be a Python exception (string or class, not an instance). fmt should be a string, containing format codes, similar to `printf`. The `width.precision` before a format code is parsed, but the width part is ignored.

  Character | Meaning
  --- | ---
  c | Character, as an `int` parameter
  d | Number in decimal, as an `int` parameter
  x | Number in hexadecimal, as an `int` parameter
  x | A string, as a `char *` parameter

  An unrecognized format character causes all the rest of the format string to be copied as-is to the result string, and any extra arguments discarded.

  A new reference is returned, which is owned by the caller.

void `PyErr_SetNone` (PyObject *type)
  This is a shorthand for "`PyErr_SetObject(type, Py_None)`".

int `PyErr_BadArgument` ()
  This is a shorthand for "`PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, message)`", where message indicates that a built-in operation was invoked with an illegal argument. It is mostly for internal use.

PyObject* `PyErr_NoMemory` ()
  Return value: Always `NULL`.
  This is a shorthand for "`PyErr_SetNone(PyExc_MemoryError)`"; it returns `NULL` so an object allocation function can write "`return PyErr_NoMemory();`" when it runs out of memory.

PyObject* `PyErr_SetFromErrno` (PyObject *type)
  Return value: Always `NULL`.
  This is a convenience function to raise an exception when a C library function has returned an error and set the C variable `errno`. It constructs a tuple object whose first item is the integer `errno` value and whose second item is the corresponding error message (gotten from `strerror()`), and then calls "`PyErr_SetObject(type, object)`". On Unix, when the `errno` value is `EINTR`, indicating an interrupted system call, this calls `PyErr_CheckSignals()`, and if that set the error indicator, leaves it set to that. The function always returns `NULL`, so a wrapper function around a system call can write "`return PyErr_SetFromErrno();`" when the system call returns an error.

PyObject* `PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilename` (PyObject *type, char *filename)
  Similar to `PyErr_SetFromErrno()`, with the additional behavior that if filename is not `NULL`, it is passed to the constructor of type as a third parameter. In the case of exceptions such as `IOError` and `OSError`, this is used to define the `filename` attribute of the exception instance.

void `PyErr_BadInternalCall` ()
  This is a shorthand for "`PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, message)`", where message indicates that an internal operation (e.g. a Python/C API function) was invoked with an illegal argument. It is mostly for internal use.

int `PyErr_CheckSignals` ()
  This function interacts with Python's signal handling. It checks whether a signal has been sent to the processes and if so, invokes the corresponding signal handler. If the `signal` module is supported, this can invoke a signal handler written in Python. In all cases, the default effect for `SIGINT` is to raise the `KeyboardInterrupt` exception. If an exception is raised the error indicator is set and the function returns `1`; otherwise the function returns `0`. The error indicator may or may not be cleared if it was previously set.

void `PyErr_SetInterrupt` ()
  This function is obsolete. It simulates the effect of a `SIGINT` signal arriving -- the next time `PyErr_CheckSignals()` is called, `KeyboardInterrupt` will be raised. It may be called without holding the interpreter lock.

PyObject* `PyErr_NewException` (char *name, PyObject *base, PyObject *dict)
  Return value: New reference.
  This utility function creates and returns a new exception object. The name argument must be the name of the new exception, a C string of the form `module.class`. The base and dict arguments are normally `NULL`. This creates a class object derived from the root for all exceptions, the built-in name `Exception` (accessible in C as `PyExc_Exception`). The `__module__` attribute of the new class is set to the first part (up to the last dot) of the name argument, and the class name is set to the last part (after the last dot). The base argument can be used to specify an alternate base class. The dict argument can be used to specify a dictionary of class variables and methods.

void `PyErr_WriteUnraisable` (PyObject *obj)
  This utility function prints a warning message to sys.stderr when an exception has been set but it is impossible for the interpreter to actually raise the exception. It is used, for example, when an exception occurs in an `__del__` method.

  The function is called with a single argument obj that identifies where the context in which the unraisable exception occurred. The repr of obj will be printed in the warning message.

Subsections

- 4.1 Standard Exceptions
- 4.2 Deprecation of String Exceptions