RuntimeError in Python — What It Means and How to Fix It
What Python's RuntimeError exception means and how to resolve it.
Published October 28, 2026
RuntimeError is a generic exception raised when an error doesn't fall into any more specific built-in category.
Key points
- Catch it specifically with "except RuntimeError:" when you want to handle this exact case rather than a bare except
Example
Sometimes used as a catch-all for custom application errors too