exception - Frequently repeated try/except in Python

Question

Firstly, I'm not sure if my approach is proper, so I'm open to a variety of suggestions.

If try/except statements are frequently repeated in code, are there any good ways to shorten them or avoid fully writing them out?

try:
    # Do similar thing
    os.remove('/my/file')
except OSError, e:
    # Same exception handing
    pass

try:
    # Do similar thing
    os.chmod('/other/file', 0700)
except OSError, e:
    #Same exception handling
    pass

For example, for one line actions you could define a exception handling wrapper and then pass a lambda function:

def may_exist(func):
    "Work with file which you are not sure if exists."""
    try:
        func()
    except OSError, e:
        # Same exception handling
        pass

may_exist(lambda: os.remove('/my/file'))
may_exist(lambda: os.chmod('/other/file', 0700))

Does this 'solution' just make things less clear? Should I just fully write out all the try/except statements?

Answer 1

The best way to abstract exception handling is with a context manager:

from contextlib import contextmanager
@contextmanager
def common_handling():
    try:
        yield
    finally:
        # whatever your common handling is

then:

with common_handling():
    os.remove('/my/file')

with common_handling():
    os.chmod('/other/file', 0700)

This has the advantage that you can put full statements, and more than one of them, in each common_handling block.

Keep in mind though, your need to use the same handling over and over again feels a lot like over-handling exceptions. Are you sure you need to do this much?