Is it bad nesting try/catch statements?

Question

My case right now:

try:
  try:
    condition
  catch

  try:
    condition
  catch

catch
 major failure

Is it bad to have the code like that? Does it clutter too much, or what are the implications of something like that?

Answer 1

No, that's somewhat common (except the keyword is except rather than catch). It depends on what you need to do and the design.

What IS bad, that I see too much of, is catching top-level Exception class, rather than something more specific (e.g. KeyError). Or raising the same.

Answer 2

I wouldn't just cut a verdict and claim "it's bad", because sometimes you may need it. Python sometimes deliberately throws exceptions instead of letting you ask (does this ...?) [the EAFP motto] and in some cases nesting of try/catch is useful - when this makes sense with the logical flow of the code.

But my guess is that most times you don't. So a better question in your case would be to present a specific use case where you think you need such code.