TRY / EXCEPT / FINALLY exception catching and handling in Robot Framework
Starting from Robot Framework version 5, you can use TRY, EXCEPT, and FINALLY to catch and handle errors or exceptions. This is similar to handling exceptions in Python.
The following example robot demonstrates the use of TRY, EXCEPT, and FINALLY to catch and handle errors or exceptions in Robot Framework.
In Robot Framework, you catch errors based on the error message. In Python, you catch an exception or error object. Otherwise, the usage and behavior are similar.
Robot Framework version 5 or greater is required to use TRY, EXCEPT, and FINALLY.
*** Settings ***
Documentation Robot Framework 5 syntax examples.
*** Test Cases ***
TRY / EXCEPT: Catch any exception
TRY
Fail
EXCEPT
Log EXCEPT with no arguments catches any exception.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Catch an exception by exact message
TRY
Fail Error message
EXCEPT Error message
Log Catches only "Error message" exceptions.
Log Enables error-specific exception handling.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Multiple EXCEPT statements
TRY
Fail Error message
EXCEPT Another error message
Log Catches only "Another error message" exceptions.
EXCEPT Error message
Log Catches the "Error message" exception.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Multiple messages in EXCEPT statement
TRY
Fail CCC
EXCEPT AAA BBB CCC
Log Catches any "AAA", "BBB", or "CCC" exception.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Catch a specific exception, or an unexpected exception
TRY
Fail Error message
EXCEPT Another message
Log Catches only "Another message" exceptions.
EXCEPT
Log Catches any exception.
Log Useful for handling unexpected exceptions.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Catch exceptions where the message starts with
TRY
Fail A long error message with lots of details
EXCEPT A long error message type=start
Log Matches the start of an error message.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Capture the error message
TRY
Fail Goodbye, world!
EXCEPT AS ${error_message}
Log ${error_message} # Goodbye, world!
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Using ELSE when no exceptions occured
TRY
Log All good!
EXCEPT Error message
Log An error occured.
ELSE
Log No error occured.
END
TRY / EXCEPT / FINALLY: Always execute code no matter if exceptions or not
TRY
Log All good!
FINALLY
Log FINALLY is always executed.
END
TRY
Fail Catastrophic failure!
EXCEPT
Log Catches any exception.
FINALLY
Log FINALLY is always executed.
END
TRY / EXCEPT / ELSE / FINALLY: All together!
TRY
Fail Error message
EXCEPT
Log Executed if any exception occurs.
ELSE
Log Executed if no exceptions occur.
FINALLY
Log FINALLY is always executed.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Glob pattern matching
TRY
Fail My error: 99 occured
EXCEPT My error: * type=glob
Log Catches by glob pattern matching.
END
TRY / EXCEPT: Regular expression matching
TRY
Fail error 99 occured
EXCEPT [Ee]rror \\d+ occured type=regexp
Log Catches by regular expression pattern matching.
END
Use the Robot Framework cheat sheet and quick reference in your daily development to look up how to work with tasks, keywords, arguments, for loops, conditional if / else / else if execution, variables, lists, dictionaries, libraries, etc.
Last edit: March 16, 2022