Why do we need the “finally” clause in Python?

Question

I am not sure why we need finally in try...except...finally statements. In my opinion, this code block

try:
    run_code1()
except          


        

Answer 1

You can use finally to make sure files or resources are closed or released regardless of whether an exception occurs, even if you don't catch the exception. (Or if you don't catch that specific exception.)

myfile = open("test.txt", "w")

try:
    myfile.write("the Answer is: ")
    myfile.write(42)   # raises TypeError, which will be propagated to caller
finally:
    myfile.close()     # will be executed before TypeError is propagated

In this example you'd be better off using the with statement, but this kind of structure can be used for other kinds of resources.

A few years later, I wrote a blog post about an abuse of finally that readers may find amusing.