#Python Bits - Finally keyword

Python Bits - Finally keyword

December 24, 2017

If you’re familiar with Python exception handling, with try and except, we also have the finally keyword which can seem a bit strange for someone who codes regularly with C or C++

First let’s look at what it’s useful for

try:
    print('inside try block')
    raise IndexError
except IndexError:
    print('inside except block')
finally:
    print('inside finally block')

# running this should yield
inside try block
inside except block
inside finally block

So, the main use for finally block is to clean up resources, for example, you can close a file or a database connection in the finally block. It always runs, when I say always I mean always, irrespective of the fact if any exception was raised or not.

try:
    print('inside try block')
except IndexError:
    print('inside except block')
finally:
    print('inside finally block')

# running this should yield
inside try block
inside finally block

Here’s a piece of code where the fun begins :

def ret_3():
    try:
        print('returning 3')
        return 3
    finally:
        print('in finally')

data = ret_3()
print(data)

# running this should yield
returning 3
in finally
3

The above code is something I find a little strange, if you’re used to reading code from top to bottom, it would seem to someone that once we hit the return statement, the function should return and the code shouldn’t have hit the finally block. But it does, as I said, the finally block is always run.

Another interesting piece of code is:

def ret_7():
    print('returning 7')
    return 7

def ret_3():
    try:
        print('returning 3')
        return ret_7()
    finally:
        print('in finally')

data = ret_3()
print(data)

# running this should yield
returning 3
returning 7
in finally
7

This means, if there is an expression in return, first we evaluate that, then comes the finally block, and then we return the expression.

At the same time, you can also return from the finally block, something you should not do if you’re returning from the try block as well, because :

def ret_7():
    print('returning 7')
    return 7

def ret_3():
    try:
        print('returning 3')
        return ret_7()
    finally:
        print('in finally')
        return 'oh no'

data = ret_3()
print(data)

# running this should yield
returning 3
returning 7
in finally
oh no

Now credit where credit’s due, the reason for this blog post is because I stumbled upon this piece of code by Peter Bengtsson — Really simple Django view function timer decorator

try:
    t0 = time.time()
    return func(*args, **kwargs)
finally:
    t1 = time.time()
    print('{:.2f}ms'.format(1000 * (t1 - t0)))

The above code will guarantee that even if our function throws an exception, we can still calculate the amount of time it took to complete, and the finally block will re-raise that exception.

References: