How to change the message in a Python AssertionError?

Question

I\'m writing per the following, in which I try to produce a decent error message when comparing two multiline blocks of Unicode text. The interior method that does the compa

Answer 1

You want to take the caught exception, convert it to a string, combine it with some additional string info, and raise a new exception.

x = 3
y = 5
try:
    assert( x == y )
except AssertionError, e:
    raise( AssertionError( "Additional info. %s"%e ) )