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How to raise a ValueError?

Tags:

python

string

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How do I fix Python ValueError?

To resolve the ValueError exception, use the try-except block. The try block lets you test a block of code for errors. The except block lets you handle the error.

How do you cause a ValueError in Python?

ValueError in Python is raised when a user gives an invalid value to a function but is of a valid argument. It usually occurs in mathematical operations that will require a certain kind of value, even when the value is the correct argument. Imagine telling Python to take the square root of a negative integer.

How do you give a raise in Python?

The raise keyword is used to raise an exception. You can define what kind of error to raise, and the text to print to the user.

How do I manually raise a Python error?

How do I manually throw/raise an exception in Python? Use the most specific Exception constructor that semantically fits your issue. Be specific in your message, e.g.: raise ValueError('A very specific bad thing happened.


raise ValueError('could not find %c in %s' % (ch,str))


Here's a revised version of your code which still works plus it illustrates how to raise a ValueError the way you want. By-the-way, I think find_last(), find_last_index(), or something simlar would be a more descriptive name for this function. Adding to the possible confusion is the fact that Python already has a container object method named __contains__() that does something a little different, membership-testing-wise.

def contains(char_string, char):
    largest_index = -1
    for i, ch in enumerate(char_string):
        if ch == char:
            largest_index = i
    if largest_index > -1:  # any found?
        return largest_index  # return index of last one
    else:
        raise ValueError('could not find {!r} in {!r}'.format(char, char_string))

print(contains('mississippi', 's'))  # -> 6
print(contains('bababa', 'k'))  # ->
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "how-to-raise-a-valueerror.py", line 15, in <module>
    print(contains('bababa', 'k'))
  File "how-to-raise-a-valueerror.py", line 12, in contains
    raise ValueError('could not find {} in {}'.format(char, char_string))
ValueError: could not find 'k' in 'bababa'

Update — A substantially simpler way

Wow! Here's a much more concise version—essentially a one-liner—that is also likely faster because it reverses (via [::-1]) the string before doing a forward search through it for the first matching character and it does so using the fast built-in string index() method. With respect to your actual question, a nice little bonus convenience that comes with using index() is that it already raises a ValueError when the character substring isn't found, so nothing additional is required to make that happen.

Here it is along with a quick unit test:

def contains(char_string, char):
    #  Ending - 1 adjusts returned index to account for searching in reverse.
    return len(char_string) - char_string[::-1].index(char) - 1

print(contains('mississippi', 's'))  # -> 6
print(contains('bababa', 'k'))  # ->
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "better-way-to-raise-a-valueerror.py", line 9, in <module>
    print(contains('bababa', 'k'))
  File "better-way-to-raise-a-valueerror", line 6, in contains
    return len(char_string) - char_string[::-1].index(char) - 1
ValueError: substring not found

>>> def contains(string, char):
...     for i in xrange(len(string) - 1, -1, -1):
...         if string[i] == char:
...             return i
...     raise ValueError("could not find %r in %r" % (char, string))
...
>>> contains('bababa', 'k')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 5, in contains
ValueError: could not find 'k' in 'bababa'
>>> contains('bababa', 'a')
5
>>> contains('bababa', 'b')
4
>>> contains('xbababa', 'x')
0
>>>

>>> response='bababa'
...  if "K" in response.text:
...     raise ValueError("Not found")