Is except: ... pass bad style?

[Michael Hudson]

marduk <marduk at python.net> writes:

> I commonly use code like this
> 
> try:
>     # call optional method
>     myobj.method()
> except AttributeError:
>     # no biggie
>     pass
> 
> 
> Occasionally I use pylint, which is a good tool, but in the above
> snippet pylint will complain that 'Except doesn't do anything'.  True,
> but is that bad style?  I know there are other ways of doing it, but
> of all the other "obvious" ones, this appears the most straight
> forward.

Sounds like a dubious warning to me.

> Should I ignore pylint or is there a more Pythonic way to do this?

Well, 

try:
    meth = myobj.method
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    meth()

is possibly better (your version might hide bugs in the method).  It's
a pain to do this all the time, though.

Come to think of it

getattr(myobj, "method", lambda :None)()

also acheives the same thing.  Bit inscrutable, though.

Cheers,
mwh

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