Why is sys.exit() causing a traceback?

Question

According to How to exit from Python without traceback?, calling sys.exit() in a Python script should exit silently without a traceback.

import sys
sys.exit(0)

However, when I launch my script from the command line on Windows 7 with python -i "exit.py", (or from Notepad++), a traceback for a SystemExit exception is displayed.

U:\>python -i "exit.py"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "exit.py", line 2, in <module>
    sys.exit(0)
SystemExit: 0
>>>

Why is sys.exit() displaying a traceback when run from the Windows command line?

(For reference, I am using Python 3.6.4 on Windows 7)

You cannot. It's the way [`sys.exit()`](https://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.exit) is implemented. — Ghilas BELHADJ, Feb 01 '18 at 20:36
@GhilasBELHADJ Your link uses the Python 2 documentation. You should repost with the [Python 3 docs](https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.exit). — Stevoisiak, Feb 01 '18 at 20:51
note that this isn't really a traceback. `SystemExit` exceptions don't have tracebacks — Jean-François Fabre, Sep 23 '19 at 13:20

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '18 at 20:38

9

You're running Python with the -i flag. -i suppresses the usual special handling of the SystemExit exception sys.exit raises; since the special handling is suppressed, Python performs the normal exception handling, which prints a traceback.

Arguably, -i should only suppress the "exit" part of the special handling, and not cause a traceback to be printed. You could raise a bug report; I didn't see any existing, related reports.

answered Feb 01 '18 at 20:38

user2357112

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when using os._exit(0), you can exit "-i" without any traceback – Matt. Stroh Feb 01 '18 at 20:54
1

@Matt.St: `os.exit` is a drastic move that exits without any cleanup. No `finally`, `__exit__`, `atexit`, `__del__`, etc. It's not likely to be appropriate here. – user2357112 Feb 01 '18 at 21:03
you are absolutely right @user2357112, but in case he want drastic move, it can work – Matt. Stroh Feb 01 '18 at 21:06

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

No exception shown:

python exit.py

and your program is terminated.

Run with -i option for interactive (inspect interactively after running script) and the exception is shown:

python -i exit.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "exit.py", line 2, in <module>
    sys.exit(0)
SystemExit: 0
>>>

because the interpreter keeps running.

exit([status])

Exit the interpreter by raising SystemExit(status).

Matt_G · Answer 3 · 2018-02-01T20:54:26.860

1

Because under the hood, sys.exit(0) raises a SystemExit exception.

Further reading here

~~what you want is:~~

os._exit(1)

edited Feb 01 '18 at 20:54

answered Feb 01 '18 at 20:35

Matt_G

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`os._exit(1)` will suppress the traceback, but it will also suppress all exit cleanup and exit immediately. This can cause data loss. – user2357112 Feb 01 '18 at 20:50

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 29 '18 at 14:24

As Matt_G says, sys.exit(0) is exactly the same as raising SystemExit(), which can be caught in higher level, which in your case is happening since you are using -i.

If you want to exit without traceback, there is os._exit(0) which calls a "C function" and exit immediately even in -i mode

as @user2357112 told me, os._exit(0) is drastic move that exits without any cleanup. No finally, __exit__, atexit, __del__, etc.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 01 '18 at 20:37

0

Because you are using the -i option. Try it without that and you won't get a stack trace.

$ python ptest.py
$ python -i ptest.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "ptest.py", line 3, in <module>
    sys.exit(0)
SystemExit: 0

answered Feb 01 '18 at 20:37

pcarter

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Why is sys.exit() causing a traceback?

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