Python: Why does my code have a syntax error?

Question

    # Handle all the exceptions!
#Setup
actor = {"name": "John Cleese", "rank": "awesome"}

def get_last_name():
    try:
        return actor["last_name"]
    except KeyError:
        return "Cleese"

#Test code
get_last_name()
print "All exceptions caught! Good job!"
print "The actor's last name is %s" % get_last_name()

Hi guys, could you please tell me why I got this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/base/data/home/apps/s~learnpythonjail/3.368780930138799213/main.py", line 77, in execute_python
    exec(code, {})
  File "<string>", line 9
    except SyntaxError:
         ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

I tried all types of error catching and it still produces a syntax error.

Thanks a lot for any help!

That's not caused by any of the code you have posted. Post the code that contains the except SyntaxError:. There is probably a missing parenthesis or bracket on the preceding line. — kindall
– kindall, Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 14:51
@kindall: to my eyes, it looks like the except SyntaxError: line is part of the code for whatever tutorial tool he's using ("learnpythonjail" is suggestive) and not something the OP wrote. — DSM
– DSM, Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 14:54
This is either a mixing of tabs and spaces, or you are using a character that is blank, but not tab or a space. (Like a non-breaking space, for example). — Lennart Regebro
– Lennart Regebro, Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 14:55

Eric · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-16 14:57:10Z

4

You're mixing tabs and spaces. Your code is:

# Handle all the exceptions!
#Setup
actor = {"name": "John Cleese", "rank": "awesome"}

def get_last_name():
····try:
····――――――return actor["last_name"]
――――――except KeyError:
········return "Cleese"

#Test code
get_last_name()
print "All exceptions caught! Good job!"
print "The actor's last name is %s" % get_last_name()

where ―――――― represents a tab, and · a space. I've intentionally represented the tab as 6 characters wide, because 4 is only the convention your editor is using. Either use tabs or spaces for indentation, but do not mix them! PEP8 advocates spaces.

In this case, the problem is that the indentation of the try does not match that of the except

edited Aug 16, 2013 at 14:57

answered Aug 16, 2013 at 14:51

Eric

98.1k54 gold badges257 silver badges389 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Martyn · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-16 14:50:40Z

0

I just copy and pasted your code and I get no errors which means it is likely a layout error. If you are using tabs try removing them and replacing them with 4 spaces.

answered Aug 16, 2013 at 14:50

Martyn

8061 gold badge8 silver badges20 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python: Why does my code have a syntax error?

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related