[Python-bugs-list] Blank except block fails in try statement (PR#60)

Dan Wolfe wolfeman@apple.com
Mon, 23 Aug 1999 09:39:15 -0700


Hi Skip,

Thanks for the answer.  Unfortunately, this little nugget is not 
mentioned in Learning Python or Programming Python, or the online 
documentation - at least not where I can find it. :-)  Now that I 
know what to look for, it does appear in Programming Python example 
code pg 853 but doesn't get metioned in the text.....

Bottom line, who can I email to make sure that this nugget get's in 
the documentation?

- Dan - just a python newbie with a taste for QA ....



At 7:25 AM -0500 8/22/99, Skip Montanaro wrote:
>    Dan> When you have an empty except: block in a try statement, both
>    Dan> MacPython 1.5.2b1 and Linux Python 1.5.2 report that you have
>    Dan> invalid syntax.
>
>That's neither a bug nor a feature.  It's a syntax error.  Blocks can't be
>empty, hence the pass statement's raison d'etre:
>
>    try:
>	print "this is a test"
>	raise(error)
>    except:
>	pass
>    else:
>	print "pleasent dreams"
>
>    Dan> The easiest way to fix this is by adding a single line to the empty
>    Dan> exception block:
>
>And Bob's your uncle! ;-)
>
>Skip Montanaro | http://www.mojam.com/
>skip@mojam.com | http://www.musi-cal.com/~skip/
>847-971-7098   | Python: Programming the way Guido indented...