Help resolve a syntax error on 'as' keyword (python 2.5)

[Ben Finney]

Oltmans <rolf.oltmans at gmail.com> writes:

> try:
>     div(5,0)
> except Exception as msg:
>     print msg

The name ‘msg’ here is misleading. The except syntax does *not* bind the
target to a message object, it binds the target to an exception object.

It would be clearer to write the above code as:

    try:
        div(5, 0)
    except Exception as exc:
        print(exc)

since the target ‘exc’ names an exception object, not a message. (The
‘print’ function will *create* a string object from the exception
object, use the string, then discard it.)

> but IDLE says (while highlighting the 'as' keyword)
> except Exception as msg:
>
> SyntaxError: invalid syntax

> I've searched the internet and I'm not sure what can cause this.

When you get a syntax error, you should check the syntax documentation
for the version of Python you're using.

> Any help is highly appreciated. I'm using Python 2.5 on Windows XP.

The syntax above is for Python 3 only
<URL:http://docs.python.org/3.1/reference/compound_stmts.html#try>.

In Python 2.5.4, the ‘try … except’ syntax was different
<URL:http://www.python.org/doc/2.5.4/ref/try.html>, and ‘print’ was not
implemented as a function, but instead as a keyword
<URL:http://www.python.org/doc/2.5.4/ref/print.html>. Use this form:

    try:
        div(5, 0)
    except Exception, exc:
        print exc

-- 
 \       “When I get new information, I change my position. What, sir, |
  `\             do you do with new information?” —John Maynard Keynes |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney