Python's "open()" throws different errors for "file not found" - how to handle both exceptions?

python python-3.x filenotfoundexception ioerror
user2015601 picture user2015601 · Feb 22, 2013 · Viewed 95.6k times · Source

I have a script where a user is prompted to type a filename (of a file that is to be opened), and if the file doesn't exist in the current directory, the user is prompted again. Here is the short version:

file = input("Type filename: ")

...
try:
    fileContent = open(filename, "r")
    ...
except FileNotFoundError:
    ...

When I tested my script on my MacOS X in Python 3.3x it worked perfectly fine when I type the wrong filename on purpose (it executes the suite under "expect").

However, when I wanted to run my code on a Windows computer in Python 3.2x, I get an error that says that "FileNotFoundError" is not defined. So, Python 3.2 on Windows thinks "FileNotFoundError" is a variable and the programs quits with an error.

I figured out that Python 3.2 on Windows throws an "IOError" if the input filename is not valid. I tested it on my Linux machine in Python 2.7, and it's also an IOError.

My problem is now, that the code with 

except "FileNotFoundError":

won't run on Windows's Python 3.2, but if I change it to 

except "IOError":

it won't work on my Mac anymore.

How could I work around it? The only way I can think of is to use just except, which I usually don't want.

Answer

Russell Borogove picture Russell Borogove · Feb 22, 2013

In 3.3, IOError became an alias for OSError, and FileNotFoundError is a subclass of OSError. So you might try

except (OSError, IOError) as e:
   ...

This will cast a pretty wide net, and you can't assume that the exception is "file not found" without inspecting e.errno, but it may cover your use case.

PEP 3151 discusses the rationale for the change in detail.

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