8. Compound statements¶

8.4.1. except clause¶

The except clause(s) specify one or more exception handlers. When no exception occurs in the try clause, no exception handler is executed. When an exception occurs in the try suite, a search for an exception handler is started. This search inspects the except clauses in turn until one is found that matches the exception. An expression-less except clause, if present, must be last; it matches any exception.

For an except clause with an expression, the expression must evaluate to an exception type or a tuple of exception types. The raised exception matches an except clause whose expression evaluates to the class or a non-virtual base class of the exception object, or to a tuple that contains such a class.

If no except clause matches the exception, the search for an exception handler continues in the surrounding code and on the invocation stack. [1]

If the evaluation of an expression in the header of an except clause raises an exception, the original search for a handler is canceled and a search starts for the new exception in the surrounding code and on the call stack (it is treated as if the entire try statement raised the exception).

When a matching except clause is found, the exception is assigned to the target specified after the as keyword in that except clause, if present, and the except clause’s suite is executed. All except clauses must have an executable block. When the end of this block is reached, execution continues normally after the entire try statement. (This means that if two nested handlers exist for the same exception, and the exception occurs in the try clause of the inner handler, the outer handler will not handle the exception.)

When an exception has been assigned using as target, it is cleared at the end of the except clause. This is as if

except E as N:
    foo

was translated to

except E as N:
    try:
        foo
    finally:
        del N

This means the exception must be assigned to a different name to be able to refer to it after the except clause. Exceptions are cleared because with the traceback attached to them, they form a reference cycle with the stack frame, keeping all locals in that frame alive until the next garbage collection occurs.

Before an except clause’s suite is executed, the exception is stored in the sys module, where it can be accessed from within the body of the except clause by calling sys.exception(). When leaving an exception handler, the exception stored in the sys module is reset to its previous value:

>>> print(sys.exception())
None
>>> try:
...     raise TypeError
... except:
...     print(repr(sys.exception()))
...     try:
...          raise ValueError
...     except:
...         print(repr(sys.exception()))
...     print(repr(sys.exception()))
...
TypeError()
ValueError()
TypeError()
>>> print(sys.exception())
None

8.4.2. except* clause¶

The except* clause(s) are used for handling ExceptionGroups. The exception type for matching is interpreted as in the case of except, but in the case of exception groups we can have partial matches when the type matches some of the exceptions in the group. This means that multiple except* clauses can execute, each handling part of the exception group. Each clause executes at most once and handles an exception group of all matching exceptions. Each exception in the group is handled by at most one except* clause, the first that matches it.

>>> try:
...     raise ExceptionGroup("eg",
...         [ValueError(1), TypeError(2), OSError(3), OSError(4)])
... except* TypeError as e:
...     print(f'caught {type(e)} with nested {e.exceptions}')
... except* OSError as e:
...     print(f'caught {type(e)} with nested {e.exceptions}')
...
caught <class 'ExceptionGroup'> with nested (TypeError(2),)
caught <class 'ExceptionGroup'> with nested (OSError(3), OSError(4))
  + Exception Group Traceback (most recent call last):
  |   File "<stdin>", line 2, in <module>
  | ExceptionGroup: eg
  +-+---------------- 1 ----------------
    | ValueError: 1
    +------------------------------------

Any remaining exceptions that were not handled by any except* clause are re-raised at the end, along with all exceptions that were raised from within the except* clauses. If this list contains more than one exception to reraise, they are combined into an exception group.

If the raised exception is not an exception group and its type matches one of the except* clauses, it is caught and wrapped by an exception group with an empty message string.

>>> try:
...     raise BlockingIOError
... except* BlockingIOError as e:
...     print(repr(e))
...
ExceptionGroup('', (BlockingIOError()))

An except* clause must have a matching expression; it cannot be except*:. Furthermore, this expression cannot contain exception group types, because that would have ambiguous semantics.

It is not possible to mix except and except* in the same try. The break, continue, and return statements cannot appear in an except* clause.

8.4.3. else clause¶

The optional else clause is executed if the control flow leaves the try suite, no exception was raised, and no return, continue, or break statement was executed. Exceptions in the else clause are not handled by the preceding except clauses.

8.4.4. finally clause¶

If finally is present, it specifies a ‘cleanup’ handler. The try clause is executed, including any except and else clauses. If an exception occurs in any of the clauses and is not handled, the exception is temporarily saved. The finally clause is executed. If there is a saved exception it is re-raised at the end of the finally clause. If the finally clause raises another exception, the saved exception is set as the context of the new exception. If the finally clause executes a return, break or continue statement, the saved exception is discarded:

>>> def f():
...     try:
...         1/0
...     finally:
...         return 42
...
>>> f()
42

The exception information is not available to the program during execution of the finally clause.

When a return, break or continue statement is executed in the try suite of a try…finally statement, the finally clause is also executed ‘on the way out.’

The return value of a function is determined by the last return statement executed. Since the finally clause always executes, a return statement executed in the finally clause will always be the last one executed:

>>> def foo():
...     try:
...         return 'try'
...     finally:
...         return 'finally'
...
>>> foo()
'finally'

8.6.1. Overview¶

Here’s an overview of the logical flow of a match statement:

1. The subject expression subject_expr is evaluated and a resulting subject value obtained. If the subject expression contains a comma, a tuple is constructed using the standard rules.

2. Each pattern in a case_block is attempted to match with the subject value. The specific rules for success or failure are described below. The match attempt can also bind some or all of the standalone names within the pattern. The precise pattern binding rules vary per pattern type and are specified below. Name bindings made during a successful pattern match outlive the executed block and can be used after the match statement.

   Note

   During failed pattern matches, some subpatterns may succeed. Do not rely on bindings being made for a failed match. Conversely, do not rely on variables remaining unchanged after a failed match. The exact behavior is dependent on implementation and may vary. This is an intentional decision made to allow different implementations to add optimizations.

3. If the pattern succeeds, the corresponding guard (if present) is evaluated. In this case all name bindings are guaranteed to have happened.

   • If the guard evaluates as true or is missing, the block inside case_block is executed.

   • Otherwise, the next case_block is attempted as described above.

   • If there are no further case blocks, the match statement is completed.

A sample match statement:

>>> flag = False
>>> match (100, 200):
...    case (100, 300):  # Mismatch: 200 != 300
...        print('Case 1')
...    case (100, 200) if flag:  # Successful match, but guard fails
...        print('Case 2')
...    case (100, y):  # Matches and binds y to 200
...        print(f'Case 3, y: {y}')
...    case _:  # Pattern not attempted
...        print('Case 4, I match anything!')
...
Case 3, y: 200

In this case, if flag is a guard. Read more about that in the next section.

8.6.2. Guards¶

guard ::= "if" named_expression

A guard (which is part of the case) must succeed for code inside the case block to execute. It takes the form: if followed by an expression.

The logical flow of a case block with a guard follows:

1. Check that the pattern in the case block succeeded. If the pattern failed, the guard is not evaluated and the next case block is checked.

2. If the pattern succeeded, evaluate the guard.

   • If the guard condition evaluates as true, the case block is selected.

   • If the guard condition evaluates as false, the case block is not selected.

   • If the guard raises an exception during evaluation, the exception bubbles up.

Guards are allowed to have side effects as they are expressions. Guard evaluation must proceed from the first to the last case block, one at a time, skipping case blocks whose pattern(s) don’t all succeed. (I.e., guard evaluation must happen in order.) Guard evaluation must stop once a case block is selected.

8.6.3. Irrefutable Case Blocks¶

An irrefutable case block is a match-all case block. A match statement may have at most one irrefutable case block, and it must be last.

A case block is considered irrefutable if it has no guard and its pattern is irrefutable. A pattern is considered irrefutable if we can prove from its syntax alone that it will always succeed. Only the following patterns are irrefutable:

• AS Patterns whose left-hand side is irrefutable

• OR Patterns containing at least one irrefutable pattern

• Capture Patterns

• Wildcard Patterns

• parenthesized irrefutable patterns

8.6.4. Patterns¶

The top-level syntax for patterns is:

patterns       ::= open_sequence_pattern | pattern
pattern        ::= as_pattern | or_pattern
closed_pattern ::= | literal_pattern
                   | capture_pattern
                   | wildcard_pattern
                   | value_pattern
                   | group_pattern
                   | sequence_pattern
                   | mapping_pattern
                   | class_pattern

The descriptions below will include a description “in simple terms” of what a pattern does for illustration purposes (credits to Raymond Hettinger for a document that inspired most of the descriptions). Note that these descriptions are purely for illustration purposes and may not reflect the underlying implementation. Furthermore, they do not cover all valid forms.

or_pattern ::= "|".closed_pattern+

as_pattern ::= or_pattern "as" capture_pattern

literal_pattern ::= signed_number
                    | signed_number "+" NUMBER
                    | signed_number "-" NUMBER
                    | strings
                    | "None"
                    | "True"
                    | "False"
signed_number   ::= ["-"] NUMBER

capture_pattern ::= !'_' NAME

wildcard_pattern ::= '_'

value_pattern ::= attr
attr          ::= name_or_attr "." NAME
name_or_attr  ::= attr | NAME

group_pattern ::= "(" pattern ")"

sequence_pattern       ::= "[" [maybe_sequence_pattern] "]"
                           | "(" [open_sequence_pattern] ")"
open_sequence_pattern  ::= maybe_star_pattern "," [maybe_sequence_pattern]
maybe_sequence_pattern ::= ",".maybe_star_pattern+ ","?
maybe_star_pattern     ::= star_pattern | pattern
star_pattern           ::= "*" (capture_pattern | wildcard_pattern)

mapping_pattern     ::= "{" [items_pattern] "}"
items_pattern       ::= ",".key_value_pattern+ ","?
key_value_pattern   ::= (literal_pattern | value_pattern) ":" pattern
                        | double_star_pattern
double_star_pattern ::= "**" capture_pattern

class_pattern       ::= name_or_attr "(" [pattern_arguments ","?] ")"
pattern_arguments   ::= positional_patterns ["," keyword_patterns]
                        | keyword_patterns
positional_patterns ::= ",".pattern+
keyword_patterns    ::= ",".keyword_pattern+
keyword_pattern     ::= NAME "=" pattern