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
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