Starting python debugger automatically on error

Question

This is a question I have wondered about for quite some time, yet I have never found a suitable solution. If I run a script and I come across, let\'s say an IndexError, pyth

Answer 1

You can use traceback.print_exc to print the exceptions traceback. Then use sys.exc_info to extract the traceback and finally call pdb.post_mortem with that traceback

import pdb, traceback, sys

def bombs():
    a = []
    print a[0]

if __name__ == '__main__':
    try:
        bombs()
    except:
        extype, value, tb = sys.exc_info()
        traceback.print_exc()
        pdb.post_mortem(tb)

If you want to start an interactive command line with code.interact using the locals of the frame where the exception originated you can do

import traceback, sys, code

def bombs():
    a = []
    print a[0]

if __name__ == '__main__':
    try:
        bombs()
    except:
        type, value, tb = sys.exc_info()
        traceback.print_exc()
        last_frame = lambda tb=tb: last_frame(tb.tb_next) if tb.tb_next else tb
        frame = last_frame().tb_frame
        ns = dict(frame.f_globals)
        ns.update(frame.f_locals)
        code.interact(local=ns)