all Python 3Exceptionsexception

shutil.SpecialFileError

module exceptions

An operation hit a special file (a socket or device) that cannot be copied like a regular one.

Syntax

raise shutil.SpecialFileError

copyfile only screens for named pipes (FIFOs); sockets and device files are not checked, so copying something like /dev/zero will happily read forever. The class derives from OSError rather than shutil.Error, which means an except shutil.Error clause misses it. On Windows you will essentially never see it, since FIFOs are not filesystem objects there.

Examples

import shutil
try:
    raise shutil.SpecialFileError
except shutil.SpecialFileError as e:
    print(type(e).__name__)   # → SpecialFileError

See also

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