Python Return error from function
What is the best practice?
In python code, error conditions are usually indicated with exceptions. You could use raise ValueError("Arrays must have the same size").
Using exception rather than return values to indicate errors has the added advantage that the exception would bubble up until it reaches a except statement. So you can defer the error handling up to a place where it makes sense. Also exceptions have an associated descriptive message instead of a magic number.
The break statement, as in many other languages, is used to interrupt the flow in loops, like ones created with while or for.
You don't need the break
def do_some_stuff(array1, array2): # Before doing stuff, check to ensure both arrays have the same length if len(array1) != len(array2): return -1Just return the error code. In this way the rest of the code of the function will not be executed.