["python","debugging","exception","environment-variables","assert"]
Disable assertions in Python

How do I disable assertions in Python? That is, if an assertion fails, I don't want it to throw an AssertionError, but to keep going. How do I do that?
#How do I disable assertions in Python? There are multiple approaches that affect a single process, the environment, or a single line of code. I demonstrate each. For the whole process Using the -O flag (capital O) disables all assert statements in a process. For example: $ python -Oc "assert False" $ python -c "assert False" Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in <module> AssertionError Note that by disable I mean it also does not execute the expression that follows it: $ python -Oc "assert 1/0" $ python -c "assert 1/0" Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in <module> ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero For the environment You can use an environment variable to set this flag as well. This will affect every process that uses or inherits the environment. E.g., in Windows, setting and then clearing the environment variable: C:\>python -c "assert False" Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in <module> AssertionError C:\>SET PYTHONOPTIMIZE=TRUE C:\>python -c "assert False" C:\>SET PYTHONOPTIMIZE= C:\>python -c "assert False" Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in <module> AssertionError Same in Unix (using set and unset for respective functionality) Single point in code You continue your question: if an assertion fails, I don't want it to throw an AssertionError, but to keep going. You can either ensure control flow does not reach the assertion, for example: if False: assert False, "we know this fails, but we don't get here" or if you want the assert expression to be exercised then you can catch the assertion error: try: assert False, "this code runs, fails, and the exception is caught" except AssertionError as e: print(repr(e)) which prints: AssertionError('this code runs, fails, and the exception is caught') and you'll keep going from the point you handled the AssertionError. References From the assert documentation: An assert statement like this: assert expression #, optional_message Is equivalent to if __debug__: if not expression: raise AssertionError #(optional_message) And, the built-in variable __debug__ is True under normal circumstances, False when optimization is requested (command line option -O). and further Assignments to __debug__ are illegal. The value for the built-in variable is determined when the interpreter starts. From the usage docs: -O Turn on basic optimizations. This changes the filename extension for compiled (bytecode) files from .pyc to .pyo. See also PYTHONOPTIMIZE. and PYTHONOPTIMIZE If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the -O option. If set to an integer, it is equivalent to specifying -O multiple times.