Define a lambda expression that raises an Exception

Question

How can I write a lambda expression that\'s equivalent to:

def x():
    raise Exception()

The following is not allowed:

y =         


        

Answer 1

Actually, there is a way, but it's very contrived.

You can create a code object using the compile() built-in function. This allows you to use the raise statement (or any other statement, for that matter), but it raises another challenge: executing the code object. The usual way would be to use the exec statement, but that leads you back to the original problem, namely that you can't execute statements in a lambda (or an eval(), for that matter).

The solution is a hack. Callables like the result of a lambda statement all have an attribute __code__, which can actually be replaced. So, if you create a callable and replace it's __code__ value with the code object from above, you get something that can be evaluated without using statements. Achieving all this, though, results in very obscure code:

map(lambda x, y, z: x.__setattr__(y, z) or x, [lambda: 0], ["__code__"], [compile("raise Exception", "", "single"])[0]()

The above does the following:

• the compile() call creates a code object that raises the exception;

• the lambda: 0 returns a callable that does nothing but return the value 0 -- this is used to execute the above code object later;

• the lambda x, y, z creates a function that calls the __setattr__ method of the first argument with the remaining arguments, AND RETURNS THE FIRST ARGUMENT! This is necessary, because __setattr__ itself returns None;

• the map() call takes the result of lambda: 0, and using the lambda x, y, z replaces it's __code__ object with the result of the compile() call. The result of this map operation is a list with one entry, the one returned by lambda x, y, z, which is why we need this lambda: if we would use __setattr__ right away, we would lose the reference to the lambda: 0 object!

• finally, the first (and only) element of the list returned by the map() call is executed, resulting in the code object being called, ultimately raising the desired exception.

It works (tested in Python 2.6), but it's definitely not pretty.

One last note: if you have access to the types module (which would require to use the import statement before your eval), then you can shorten this code down a bit: using types.FunctionType() you can create a function that will execute the given code object, so you won't need the hack of creating a dummy function with lambda: 0 and replacing the value of its __code__ attribute.