Last Updated: 2024-11-21

This is dangerous

begin
  do_something
  # !! Don't do this
rescue Exception => e
end

Why? This rescues all exceptions that inherit from Exception. Some of these are needed internally by Ruby - e.g. NoMemoryError (out of RAM) or SignalException::Interrupt (now you can't Control-C)

This is bad, bad, bad.

Therefore the most extreme level of rescuing you should go to (and the base for your custom exceptions) should be StandardError instead.

e.g. this is totally acceptable

begin
  do_something
rescue StandardError => e
  # Only your app's exceptions are swallowed. Things like SyntaxError are left alone. 
end

Example exceptions that inherit from StandardError

• TypeError - e.g. what you'd get if you did 4 + "apple"
• NoMethodError - no method

Resources

• https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/ruby-exception-vs-standarderror-whats-the-difference/