How to use the pass statement
PythonPython Problem Overview
I am in the process of learning Python and I have reached the section about the pass
statement. The guide I'm using defines it as being a null statement that is commonly used as a placeholder.
I still don't fully understand what that means though. What would be a simple/basic situation where the pass
statement would be used and why would it be needed?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
Suppose you are designing a new class with some methods that you don't want to implement, yet.
class MyClass(object):
def meth_a(self):
pass
def meth_b(self):
print "I'm meth_b"
If you were to leave out the pass
, the code wouldn't run.
You would then get an:
IndentationError: expected an indented block
To summarize, the pass
statement does nothing particular, but it can act as a placeholder, as demonstrated here.
Solution 2 - Python
Python has the syntactical requirement that code blocks (after if
, except
, def
, class
etc.) cannot be empty. Empty code blocks are however useful in a variety of different contexts, such as in examples below, which are the most frequent use cases I have seen.
Therefore, if nothing is supposed to happen in a code block, a pass
is needed for such a block to not produce an IndentationError
. Alternatively, any statement (including just a term to be evaluated, like the Ellipsis
literal ...
or a string, most often a docstring) can be used, but the pass
makes clear that indeed nothing is supposed to happen, and does not need to be actually evaluated and (at least temporarily) stored in memory.
-
Ignoring (all or) a certain type of
Exception
(example fromxml
):try: self.version = "Expat %d.%d.%d" % expat.version_info except AttributeError: pass # unknown
Note: Ignoring all types of raises, as in the following example from
pandas
, is generally considered bad practice, because it also catches exceptions that should probably be passed on to the caller, e.g.KeyboardInterrupt
orSystemExit
(or evenHardwareIsOnFireError
– How do you know you aren't running on a custom box with specific errors defined, which some calling application would want to know about?).try: os.unlink(filename_larry) except: pass
Instead using at least
except Error:
or in this case preferablyexcept OSError:
is considered much better practice. A quick analysis of all Python modules I have installed gave me that more than 10% of allexcept ...: pass
statements catch all exceptions, so it's still a frequent pattern in Python programming. -
Deriving an exception class that does not add new behaviour (e.g., in SciPy):
class CompileError(Exception): pass
Similarly, classes intended as abstract base class often have an explicit empty
__init__
or other methods that subclasses are supposed to derive (e.g.,pebl
):class _BaseSubmittingController(_BaseController): def submit(self, tasks): pass def retrieve(self, deferred_results): pass
-
Testing that code runs properly for a few test values, without caring about the results (from
mpmath
):for x, error in MDNewton(mp, f, (1,-2), verbose=0, norm=lambda x: norm(x, inf)): pass
-
In class or function definitions, often a docstring is already in place as the obligatory statement to be executed as the only thing in the block. In such cases, the block may contain
pass
in addition to the docstring in order to say “This is indeed intended to do nothing.”, for example inpebl
:class ParsingError(Exception): """Error encountered while parsing an ill-formed datafile.""" pass
-
In some cases,
pass
is used as a placeholder to say “This method/class/if-block/... has not been implemented yet, but this will be the place to do it”, although I personally prefer theEllipsis
literal...
in order to strictly differentiate between this and the intentional “no-op” in the previous example. (Note that the Ellipsis literal is a valid expression only in Python 3)For example, if I write a model in broad strokes, I might write
def update_agent(agent): ...
where others might have
def update_agent(agent): pass
before
def time_step(agents): for agent in agents: update_agent(agent)
as a reminder to fill in the
update_agent
function at a later point, but run some tests already to see if the rest of the code behaves as intended. (A third option for this case israise NotImplementedError
. This is useful in particular for two cases: Either “This abstract method should be implemented by every subclass, and there isn't a generic way to define it in this base class”, or “This function, with this name, is not yet implemented in this release, but this is what its signature will look like”)
Solution 3 - Python
Besides its use as a placeholder for unimplemented functions, pass
can be useful in filling out an if-else statement ("Explicit is better than implicit.")
def some_silly_transform(n):
# Even numbers should be divided by 2
if n % 2 == 0:
n /= 2
flag = True
# Negative odd numbers should return their absolute value
elif n < 0:
n = -n
flag = True
# Otherwise, number should remain unchanged
else:
pass
Of course, in this case, one would probably use return
instead of assignment, but in cases where mutation is desired, this works best.
The use of pass
here is especially useful to warn future maintainers (including yourself!) not to put redundant steps outside of the conditional statements. In the example above, flag
is set in the two specifically mentioned cases, but not in the else
-case. Without using pass
, a future programmer might move flag = True
to outside the condition—thus setting flag
in all cases.
Another case is with the boilerplate function often seen at the bottom of a file:
if __name__ == "__main__":
pass
In some files, it might be nice to leave that there with pass
to allow for easier editing later, and to make explicit that nothing is expected to happen when the file is run on its own.
Finally, as mentioned in other answers, it can be useful to do nothing when an exception is caught:
try:
n[i] = 0
except IndexError:
pass
Solution 4 - Python
The best and most accurate way to think of pass
is as a way to explicitly tell the interpreter to do nothing. In the same way the following code:
def foo(x,y):
return x+y
means "if I call the function foo(x, y), sum the two numbers the labels x and y represent and hand back the result",
def bar():
pass
means "If I call the function bar(), do absolutely nothing."
The other answers are quite correct, but it's also useful for a few things that don't involve place-holding.
For example, in a bit of code I worked on just recently, it was necessary to divide two variables, and it was possible for the divisor to be zero.
c = a / b
will, obviously, produce a ZeroDivisionError if b is zero. In this particular situation, leaving c as zero was the desired behavior in the case that b was zero, so I used the following code:
try:
c = a / b
except ZeroDivisionError:
pass
Another, less standard usage is as a handy place to put a breakpoint for your debugger. For example, I wanted a bit of code to break into the debugger on the 20th iteration of a for... in statement. So:
for t in range(25):
do_a_thing(t)
if t == 20:
pass
with the breakpoint on pass.
Solution 5 - Python
A common use case where it can be used 'as is' is to override a class just to create a type (which is otherwise the same as the superclass), e.g.
class Error(Exception):
pass
So you can raise and catch Error
exceptions. What matters here is the type of exception, rather than the content.
Solution 6 - Python
pass
in Python basically does nothing, but unlike a comment it is not ignored by interpreter. So you can take advantage of it in a lot of places by making it a place holder:
1: Can be used in class
class TestClass:
pass
2: Can be use in loop and conditional statements:
if (something == true): # used in conditional statement
pass
while (some condition is true): # user is not sure about the body of the loop
pass
3: Can be used in function:
def testFunction(args): # The programmer wants to implement the body of the function later
pass
pass
is mostly used when the programmer does not want to give implementation at the moment, but still wants to create a certain class/function/conditional statement which can be used later on. Since the Python interpreter does not allow for a blank or unimplemented class, function, or conditional statement it gives an error:
> IndentationError: expected an indented block
pass
can be used in such scenarios.
Solution 7 - Python
You can say that pass means a NOP (no operation) operation. You will get a clear picture after this example:
C Program
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int age = 12;
if( age < 18 )
{
printf("You are not adult, so you can't do that task ");
}
else if( age >= 18 && age < 60)
{
// I will add more code later inside it
}
else
{
printf("You are too old to do anything , sorry ");
}
}
Now how you will write that in Python:
age = 12
if age < 18:
print "You are not adult, so you can't do that task"
elif age >= 18 and age < 60:
else:
print "You are too old to do anything , sorry "
But your code will give an error because it required an indented block after elif. Here is the role of the pass keyword.
age = 12
if age < 18:
print "You are not adult, so you can't do that task"
elif age >= 18 and age < 60:
pass
else:
print "You are too old to do anything , sorry "
Now I think it's clear to you.
Solution 8 - Python
The pass statement does nothing. It can be used when a statement is required syntactically but the program requires no action.
Solution 9 - Python
Honestly, I think the official Python docs describe it quite well and provide some examples:
> The pass statement does nothing. It can be used when a statement is required syntactically but the program requires no action. For example:
> >>> while True: ... pass # Busy-wait for keyboard interrupt (Ctrl+C) ...
> This is commonly used for creating minimal classes:
> >>> class MyEmptyClass: ... pass ...
> Another place pass can be used is as a place-holder for a function or conditional body when you are working on new code, allowing you to keep thinking at a more abstract level. The pass is silently ignored:
> >>> def initlog(*args): ... pass # Remember to implement this! ...
Solution 10 - Python
If you want to import a module, if it exists, and ignore importing it, if that module does not exists, you can use the below code:
try:
import a_module
except ImportError:
pass
# The rest of your code
If you avoid writing the pass statement and continue writing the rest of your code, a IndentationError would be raised, since the lines after opening the except block are not indented.
Solution 11 - Python
As the book said, I only ever use it as a temporary placeholder, i.e.,
# code that does something to to a variable, var
if var == 2000:
pass
else:
var += 1
And then later fill in the scenario where var == 2000
.
Solution 12 - Python
In addition to the "main" use of "I don't want anything to go here," here's one I just found, assuming gen
is an Iterator
:
i = 0
obj = None
for i, obj in enumerate(gen):
pass
This gets the last object yield
ed from gen
and the length of gen
, all in one pass. (Sorta similar to a while
loop that ends with a semicolon in C, come to think of it.)
Solution 13 - Python
Pass is usually helpful when you are writing code to design a game or something of that type , now as you proceed with the code , you would realize that , there are some functions you don't want to move ahead and want to leave it untouched and move further on with the code and then revisit the function later , but as you do so , the compiler would obviously thrown an error saying it isn't either recognized and all sorts of other things!! In this condition you use pass so that the compiler would simply neglect the function and move further on with the code !!
For example -
if __name__ = "__main__":
pass
print("Hello World!")
Here the compiler would neglect the if name part and would print Hello World as directed !!
Thanks !
Solution 14 - Python
The pass statement in Python is used when a statement is required syntactically, but you do not want any command or code to execute.
The pass statement is a null operation; nothing happens when it executes. The pass is also useful in places where your code will eventually go, but has not been written yet (e.g., in stubs for example):
Example:
#!/usr/bin/python
for letter in 'Python':
if letter == 'h':
pass
print 'This is pass block'
print 'Current Letter :', letter
print "Good bye!"
This will produce the following result:
Current Letter : P
Current Letter : y
Current Letter : t
This is pass block
Current Letter : h
Current Letter : o
Current Letter : n
Good bye!
The preceding code does not execute any statement or code if the value of letter is 'h'. The pass statement is helpful when you have created a code block, but it is no longer required.
You can then remove the statements inside the block, but let the block remain with a pass statement so that it doesn't interfere with other parts of the code.
Solution 15 - Python
Pass refers to ignore...as simple as it is. If the given condition is true and the next statement is pass, it ignores that value or iteration and proceed to the next line.
Example:
for i in range (1, 100):
if i%2 == 0:
pass
else:
print(i)
Output: Prints all the odd numbers from 1-100
This is because the modulus of an even number is equal to zero, hence it ignores the number and proceeds to next number. Since odd numbers' modulus are not equal to zero, the else part of the loop is executed and it's printed.
Solution 16 - Python
pass is used to avoid indentation errors in Python.
If we take languages like C, C++, and Java, they have braces like:
if(i==0)
{}
else
{//some code}
But in Python we use indentation instead of braces, so to avoid such errors we use pass.
Remembered as you were playing a quiz and
if(dont_know_the_answer)
pass
Example program,
for letter in 'geeksforgeeks':
pass
print 'Last letter: ', letter