How to Fix KeyboardInterrupt

What is KeyboardInterrupt?

A KeyboardInterrupt error occurs when a running Python program is interrupted by the user, typically by pressing Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+Break on some systems) in the terminal. This raises the KeyboardInterrupt exception, which can be caught and handled by the program. If not handled, the program will terminate.

Common Causes

• Pressing Ctrl+C in the terminal while a Python script is running.
• Manual interruption of scripts running in interactive environments.
• Automated tools or scripts sending interrupt signals to the Python process.

How to Fix

1. Wrap your main code in a try-except block to catch KeyboardInterrupt and handle it gracefully.
2. Ensure that any cleanup operations (like closing files or saving progress) are performed in the except block or in a finally block.

Wrong Code

# Running this script and pressing Ctrl+C will immediately terminate it without cleanup.
while True:
    pass

Correct Code

# This script handles KeyboardInterrupt and performs cleanup before exiting.
try:
    while True:
        pass
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    print('Interrupted by user. Cleaning up...')