Errors & debugging
Handle failures gracefully, raise helpful errors, and debug with confidence.
How to Dump a Debugging Repr for Unknown Types in Python
Build a fallback repr that shows dataclass fields or object attributes for any value, handy when debugging unknown types.
import dataclasses
from typing import Any
@dataclasses.dataclass
class Sample:
name: str
values: list[int]
def dump_repr(obj: Any) -> str:
"""Return a concise but complete repr for debugging unknown types."""
if dataclasses.is_dataclass(obj):
fields = ", ".join(
f"{field.name}={…
How to Validate JSON in Python and Catch JSONDecodeError
A robust Python function that attempts to parse JSON strings and returns a boolean plus either the parsed data or a descriptive error message when decoding fails.
import json
def validate_json(json_string):
"""Try to parse JSON, return (is_valid, data_or_error)."""
try:
data = json.loads(json_string)
return True, data
except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
return False, f"Invalid JSON: {e}"
if __name__ == "__main__":
test_inputs = [
…
How to check for None and raise helpful errors in Python
A defensive function that explicitly validates data, keys, and values — raising descriptive ValueError and KeyError exceptions before returning a result.
def get_value(data, key):
if data is None:
raise ValueError("data cannot be None")
if key not in data:
raise KeyError(f"key '{key}' not found in data")
result = data[key]
if result is None:
raise ValueError(f"value for key '{key}' is None")
return result
if __name__ == "__…
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Errors & debugging — Python code examples
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This page collects errors & debugging snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
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