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🧯 Try / Except / Finally

The try statement lets you separate normal logic from error handling. You can catch errors, run cleanup code, or execute alternative paths safely.

✅ Basic Pattern

try:
    value = int(user_input)
except ValueError:
    print("Please enter a number")

✅ else and finally

  • else runs only if no exception happened.
  • finally runs always (success or failure), perfect for cleanup.
try:
    file = open("data.txt")
    data = file.read()
except FileNotFoundError:
    data = ""
else:
    print("Read successful")
finally:
    file.close()

✅ Catching Multiple Exceptions

try:
    result = data["count"] / total
except (KeyError, ZeroDivisionError) as exc:
    print("Problem:", exc)

⚠️ Don’t Catch Too Broadly

try:
    risky()
except Exception:
    pass  # hides bugs and makes debugging hard

Prefer catching specific errors you expect.

🔍 Key Takeaways

  • Use try/except to handle known failure cases.
  • Use else for success-only logic.
  • Use finally for cleanup and releasing resources.

Next: Custom Exceptions →