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Python Code Samples

Copy-ready Python snippets by topic and difficulty — short, focused, and runnable in the browser editor.

43 matches
Errors & debugging easy

How to define an exception hierarchy for domain errors in Python

Create a custom exception hierarchy with a base DomainError class and specific subclasses to handle validation, not-found, permission, and concurrency errors cleanly in Python apps.

exceptions domain-errors error-handling
Python
class DomainError(Exception):
    """Base class for all domain errors."""
    pass

class ValidationError(DomainError):
    """Raised when input data fails validation rules."""
    pass

class NotFoundError(DomainError):
    """Raised when a requested entity does not exist."""
    pass

class PermissionDeniedError(Dom…
14 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

How to handle ZeroDivisionError in Python

Wrap a division operation in try/except to return None or a friendly message instead of crashing when dividing by zero.

zero-division exception-handling try-except
Python
def safe_divide(a, b):
    """Return a/b if possible, else None when dividing by zero."""
    try:
        return a / b
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        return None


def safe_divide_with_message(a, b):
    """Return a how-to message on divide-by-zero error."""
    try:
        return a / b
    except ZeroDivisio…
13 0 Open
Errors & debugging medium

How to parse a traceback to get the last frame in Python

Extracts the innermost frame's file, line, and function name from a Python traceback object.

traceback exceptions debugging
Python
import sys
import traceback


def parse_traceback_last_frame(exc_info):
    """Return the file, line, and function of the last (innermost) frame."""
    _, _, tb = exc_info
    last_tb = tb
    while last_tb.tb_next is not None:
        last_tb = last_tb.tb_next
    filename = last_tb.tb_frame.f_code.co_filename
    l…
13 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Implement a Context Manager That Suppresses Exceptions in Python

Shows how to write a custom context manager that catches specified exceptions and optionally re-raises others, plus the stdlib contextlib.suppress alternative.

context-manager exception-handling with-statement
Python
import contextlib

class SuppressExceptions:
    def __init__(self, *exceptions):
        self.exceptions = exceptions

    def __enter__(self):
        return self

    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):
        if exc_type is None:
            return False
        if not self.exceptions or exc_type in se…
11 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Map Exception Type to HTTP Status Code in Python

Maps Python exception types to appropriate HTTP status codes using a dictionary lookup for consistent API error handling.

exceptions http-status error-handling
Python
EXCEPTION_STATUS_MAP = {
    ValueError: 400,
    KeyError: 400,
    TypeError: 400,
    PermissionError: 403,
    FileNotFoundError: 404,
    AttributeError: 404,
    TimeoutError: 408,
    NotImplementedError: 501,
    ConnectionError: 503,
}


def status_code_for(exception_type):
    try:
        return EXCEPTION_S…
13 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Retry an Operation on ConnectionError in Python

Retries an unreliable operation a fixed number of times when it raises a transient ConnectionError, with a small delay between attempts.

retry connection-error error-handling
Python
import time
import random


def unreliable_operation():
    """Simulates an operation that throws ConnectionError occasionally."""
    if random.random() < 0.6:
        raise ConnectionError("Transient network failure")
    return "Operation succeeded"


def retry_operation(attempts=4, delay=0.2):
    """Retries the o…
15 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Try Except ValueError in Python: Handle Conversion Errors

Catch ValueError exceptions when converting strings to integers or performing arithmetic, returning None on failure instead of crashing.

try-except valueerror exception
Python
def convert_to_int(value):
    try:
        return int(value)
    except ValueError as error:
        print(f"Conversion failed: {error}")
        print(f"Problem value was: {repr(value)}")
        return None


def divide_numbers(numerator, denominator):
    try:
        result = numerator / denominator
        retur…
13 0 Open
Errors & debugging easy

Validate try except ValueError handler for beginners — errors debugging

Learn how to validate user input and handle division errors safely using try/except with ValueError and ZeroDivisionError in Python.

try except valueerror
Python
def divide_numbers(a, b):
    """Divide two numbers, catching division by zero and value errors."""
    try:
        result = a / b
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        print("Error: Cannot divide by zero!")
        return None
    except TypeError:
        print("Error: Both arguments must be numbers!")
        retu…
14 0 Open
OOP & classes easy

How to define a custom exception class in Python with an error code attribute

Create a custom exception class with extra attributes like an error code, then raise and catch it in a try/except block.

exceptions classes error-handling
Python
class UserNotFoundError(Exception):
    def __init__(self, user_id, error_code=404):
        self.user_id = user_id
        self.error_code = error_code
        super().__init__(f"User with ID {user_id} was not found (error code: {error_code})")

def find_user(user_id, users_db):
    if user_id not in users_db:
      …
15 0 Open
Comprehensions & generators easy

How to Close a Generator and Handle GeneratorExit in Python

This Python code demonstrates how to explicitly close a generator using the close() method and handle the GeneratorExit exception through a finally block to run cleanup logic.

generators generator-exit close
Python
def countdown(n):
    try:
        while n > 0:
            yield n
            n -= 1
    finally:
        print(f"Generator closed after countdown completed")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    gen = countdown(5)
    print(next(gen))
    print(next(gen))
    gen.close()
    print("Generator closed explicitly")
12 0 Open
Comprehensions & generators medium

How to Throw an Exception into a Python Generator

This code demonstrates how to use the .throw() method on a generator to inject an exception at its current yield point and let it recover gracefully.

generator throw exception
Python
def demo_throw_into_generator():
    """Demonstrate throwing an exception into a running generator."""
    def counter():
        """Generator that counts until interrupted."""
        try:
            i = 0
            while True:
                yield i
                i += 1
        except ValueError as e:
        …
12 0 Open
Automation & scripting easy

How to Cross Post Markdown to dev.to API in Python

A Python function that POSTs markdown content to the dev.to API and handles HTTP or URLError exceptions with mock API testing.

api dev.to markdown
Python
import json
from urllib import request, error


def cross_post_to_devto(markdown_content, api_key, devto_api_url="https://dev.to/api/articles"):
    """
    Mock cross-posting of markdown content to the dev.to API.
    Returns the API response or an error message.
    """
    payload = json.dumps({
        "article": …
10 0 Open
Data pipelines & processing medium

Python Exponential Backoff Retry Example

Retry a flaky function with exponential backoff and jitter-free delays, printing each attempt and finally returning the successful result.

retry backoff exception-handling
Python
import random
import time


def flaky_function():
    if random.random() < 0.6:
        raise ConnectionError("Temporary network error")
    return "success"


def retry_with_exponential_backoff(func, max_retries=5, base_delay=1.0):
    for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
        try:
            return func()
    …
16 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Graceful Shutdown Executor Context Manager in Python

A context manager that starts a background thread and ensures it stops gracefully on exit, handling timeouts and exceptions.

threading context-manager graceful-shutdown
Python
import signal
import threading
import time
from contextlib import contextmanager


@contextmanager
def graceful_shutdown_executor(timeout=5.0):
    """Context manager that runs a task and gracefully stops it on timeout or exception."""
    stop_event = threading.Event()

    def task():
        print("Task started")
 …
15 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

Fuzz Test Random Bytes Input Crash in Python

A simple fuzz test generates random byte inputs and runs a parser to find unexpected crashes.

fuzzing testing random
Python
import random


def parse_header(data: bytes) -> dict:
    """Parse a fake binary header format."""
    if len(data) < 8:
        raise ValueError("header too short")

    magic = data[:4]
    if magic != b'PARS':
        raise ValueError("bad magic")

    version = data[4]
    if version != 1:
        raise ValueErro…
14 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

How to Assert Exceptions in Python with pytest.raises

Use pytest.raises as a context manager to assert that a function raises an expected exception and inspect its message in pytest tests.

pytest testing exceptions
Python
import pytest

def divide(a, b):
    if b == 0:
        raise ValueError("Cannot divide by zero")
    return a / b

def test_divide_by_zero():
    with pytest.raises(ValueError) as exc_info:
        divide(10, 0)
    assert str(exc_info.value) == "Cannot divide by zero"
    assert "zero" in str(exc_info.value)

def te…
14 0 Open
Testing & modern typing easy

How to use unittest mock side_effect with a sequence in Python

Demonstrates using Mock.side_effect with a list to return different values per call and raise an exception at a specific call in unittest.

unittest mock side_effect
Python
import unittest
from unittest.mock import Mock

class TestMockSideEffectSequence(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_side_effect_sequence(self):
        mock = Mock()
        mock.side_effect = [1, 2, 3, Exception("boom")]
        
        self.assertEqual(mock(), 1)
        self.assertEqual(mock(), 2)
        self.asser…
13 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting easy

How to Retry on Specific Exception Tuples in Python

A decorator-based retry pattern that retries a function only when it raises exceptions specified in a tuple, with configurable retries and delay.

retry decorator exceptions
Python
import time
import random
from unittest.mock import patch


def retry_on_exceptions(retries=3, exceptions=(ValueError,), delay=0.1):
    def decorator(func):
        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
            for attempt in range(retries):
                try:
                    return func(*args, **kwargs)
          …
15 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to retry idempotent operations with a mock in Python

Wrap a flaky idempotent operation in a retry loop with exponential backoff, and use unittest.mock to deterministically test the str's behavior.

retry backoff mock
Python
import random
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock


def idempotent_operation(value):
    """Simulate an idempotent operation that sometimes fails."""
    if random.random() < 0.6:  # 60% failure rate
        raise ConnectionError("Temporary failure")
    return value * 2


def retry_with_backoff(operation, max_…
14 0 Open

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Guide: free Python code samples library

Copy-ready Python snippets for learners and developers

PythonSkillset code samples are short, focused examples organised by topic and difficulty. Every snippet is server-rendered HTML — readable by search engines and easy to copy. Open any sample, read the notes, copy the code, then press Try in editor to run it in the browser with Pyodide.

How to use this library

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  2. Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
  3. Run it in the IDE, tweak values, then take a related quiz or tutorial lesson

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Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.