try: row[field_name] = unpack("i", toread[0:4])[0] if not row[field_name] >= 0: row[field_name] = -1 toread = toread[4:] except: try: ei = sys.exc_info() finally: del ei row[field_name] = unpack("H", toread[0:2])[0] if not row[field_name] >= 0: row[field_name] = -1 toread = toread[2:]