pandas-dev/pandas · error · OptionError

No such option

Error message

No such option

What it means

Raised by DictWrapper.__getattr__ (config.py:437-438) when the requested attribute key is not present in the underlying nested dict. Chained from the internal KeyError. OptionError subclasses AttributeError, so hasattr/getattr semantics work as expected.

Source

Thrown at pandas/_config/config.py:438

        if prefix:
            prefix += "."
        prefix += key
        # you can't set new keys
        # can you can't overwrite subtrees
        if key in self.d and not isinstance(self.d[key], dict):
            set_option(prefix, val)
        else:
            raise OptionError("You can only set the value of existing options")

    def __getattr__(self, key: str) -> Any:
        prefix = object.__getattribute__(self, "prefix")
        if prefix:
            prefix += "."
        prefix += key
        try:
            v = object.__getattribute__(self, "d")[key]
        except KeyError as err:
            raise OptionError("No such option") from err
        if isinstance(v, dict):
            return DictWrapper(v, prefix)
        else:
            return get_option(prefix)

    def __dir__(self) -> list[str]:
        return list(self.d.keys())


options = DictWrapper(_global_config)
# DictWrapper defines a custom setattr
object.__setattr__(options, "__module__", "pandas")

#
# Functions for use by pandas developers, in addition to User - api


@contextmanager

View on GitHub (pinned to 71959b8cb9)

Solutions

1. List valid attributes via dir(pd.options.display) or pd.describe_option('display').
2. Use the function API pd.get_option('display.x') with try/except OptionError.
3. Catch AttributeError (OptionError is a subclass) for optional-option handling.

Example fix

# before
pd.options.display.context  # OptionError: No such option

# after
pd.options.display.max_columns  # an existing leaf

def get_attr_option(root, key, default=None):
    d = object.__getattribute__(root, 'd')
    if key not in d:
        return default
    return getattr(root, key)

def has_option_attr(root, key: str) -> bool:
    d = object.__getattribute__(root, 'd')
    return key in d

from pandas.errors import OptionError
try:
    val = getattr(pd.options.display, key)
except OptionError:
    val = None

When it happens

Trigger: pd.options.context (no such attribute) or pd.options.display.nonexistent.

Common situations: Accessing a typo'd or removed option via attribute syntax; using getattr-style introspection on a namespace that does not contain the leaf.

Related errors

• You can only set the value of existing options
• No such keys(s): {pat!r}
• Pattern matched multiple keys
• Must provide an even number of non-keyword arguments
• No such keys(s) for {pat=}

AI-assisted analysis of pandas-dev/pandas@71959b8cb9 (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c99fbba121e89f5. Report an issue: GitHub.