What is a good way to handle exceptions when trying to read a file in python?

Charles Holbrow picture Charles Holbrow · Apr 11, 2011 · Viewed 185.7k times · Source

I want to read a .csv file in python.

  • I don't know if the file exists.
  • My current solution is below. It feels sloppy to me because the two separate exception tests are awkwardly juxtaposed.

Is there a prettier way to do it?

import csv    
fName = "aFile.csv"

try:
    with open(fName, 'rb') as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        for row in reader:
            pass #do stuff here
    
except IOError:
    print "Could not read file:", fName

Answer

Tim Pietzcker picture Tim Pietzcker · Apr 11, 2011

How about this:

try:
    f = open(fname, 'rb')
except OSError:
    print "Could not open/read file:", fname
    sys.exit()

with f:
    reader = csv.reader(f)
    for row in reader:
        pass #do stuff here