What is the maximum recursion depth in Python, and how to increase it?

If you often need to change the recursion limit (e.g. while solving programming puzzles) you can define a simple context manager like this:

import sys

class recursionlimit:
    def __init__(self, limit):
        self.limit = limit

    def __enter__(self):
        self.old_limit = sys.getrecursionlimit()
        sys.setrecursionlimit(self.limit)

    def __exit__(self, type, value, tb):
        sys.setrecursionlimit(self.old_limit)

Then to call a function with a custom limit you can do:

with recursionlimit(1500):
    print(fib(1000, 0))

On exit from the body of the with statement the recursion limit will be restored to the default value.

P.S. You may also want to increase the stack size of the Python process for big values of the recursion limit. That can be done via the ulimit shell builtin or limits.conf(5) file, for example.

We can do that using @lru_cache decorator and setrecursionlimit() method:

import sys
from functools import lru_cache

sys.setrecursionlimit(15000)


@lru_cache(128)
def fib(n: int) -> int:
    if n == 0:
        return 0
    if n == 1:
        return 1

    return fib(n - 2) + fib(n - 1)


print(fib(14000))

Output

3002468761178461090995494179715025648692747937490792943468375429502230242942284835863402333575216217865811638730389352239181342307756720414619391217798542575996541081060501905302157019002614964717310808809478675602711440361241500732699145834377856326394037071666274321657305320804055307021019793251762830816701587386994888032362232198219843549865275880699612359275125243457132496772854886508703396643365042454333009802006384286859581649296390803003232654898464561589234445139863242606285711591746222880807391057211912655818499798720987302540712067959840802106849776547522247429904618357394771725653253559346195282601285019169360207355179223814857106405285007997547692546378757062999581657867188420995770650565521377874333085963123444258953052751461206977615079511435862879678439081175536265576977106865074099512897235100538241196445815568291377846656352979228098911566675956525644182645608178603837172227838896725425605719942300037650526231486881066037397866942013838296769284745527778439272995067231492069369130289154753132313883294398593507873555667211005422003204156154859031529462152953119957597195735953686798871131148255050140450845034240095305094449911578598539658855704158240221809528010179414493499583473568873253067921639513996596738275817909624857593693291980841303291145613566466575233283651420134915764961372875933822262953420444548349180436583183291944875599477240814774580187144637965487250578134990402443365677985388481961492444981994523034245619781853365476552719460960795929666883665704293897310201276011658074359194189359660792496027472226428571547971602259808697441435358578480589837766911684200275636889192254762678512597000452676191374475932796663842865744658264924913771676415404179920096074751516422872997665425047457428327276230059296132722787915300105002019006293320082955378715908263653377755031155794063450515731009402407584683132870206376994025920790298591144213659942668622062191441346200098342943955169522532574271644954360217472458521489671859465232568419404182043966092211744372699797375966048010775453444600153524772238401414789562651410289808994960533132759532092895779406940925252906166612153699850759933762897947175972147868784008320247586210378556711332739463277940255289047962323306946068381887446046387745247925675240182981190836264964640612069909458682443392729946084099312047752966806439331403663934969942958022237945205992581178803606156982034385347182766573351768749665172549908638337611953199808161937885366709285043276595726484068138091188914698151703122773726725261370542355162118164302728812259192476428938730724109825922331973256105091200551566581350508061922762910078528219869913214146575557249199263634241165352226570749618907050553115468306669184485910269806225894530809823102279231750061652042560772530576713148647858705369649642907780603247428680176236527220826640665659902650188140474762163503557640566711903907798932853656216227739411210513756695569391593763704981001125

Source

functools lru_cache

RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in comparison

Solution :

First it’s better to know when you execute a recursive function in Python on a large input ( > 10^4), you might encounter a “maximum recursion depth exceeded error”.

The sys module in Python have a function getrecursionlimit() can show the recursion limit in your Python version.

import sys
print("Python Recursive Limitation = ", sys.getrecursionlimit())

The default in some version of Python is 1000 and in some other it was 1500

You can change this limitation but it’s very important to know if you increase it very much you will have memory overflow error.

So be careful before increase it. You can use setrecursionlimit() to increase this limitation in Python.

import sys
sys.setrecursionlimit(3000)

Please follow this link for more information about somethings cause this issue :

https://elvand.com/quick-sort-binary-search/

I wanted to give you an example for using memoization to compute Fibonacci as this will allow you to compute significantly larger numbers using recursion:

cache = {}
def fib_dp(n):
    if n in cache:
        return cache[n]
    if n == 0: return 0
    elif n == 1: return 1
    else:
        value = fib_dp(n-1) + fib_dp(n-2)
    cache[n] = value
    return value

print(fib_dp(998))

This is still recursive, but uses a simple hashtable that allows the reuse of previously calculated Fibonacci numbers instead of doing them again.

import sys
sys.setrecursionlimit(1500)

def fib(n, sum):
    if n < 1:
        return sum
    else:
        return fib(n-1, sum+n)

c = 998
print(fib(c, 0))

We could also use a variation of dynamic programming bottom up approach

def fib_bottom_up(n):

    bottom_up = [None] * (n+1)
    bottom_up[0] = 1
    bottom_up[1] = 1

    for i in range(2, n+1):
        bottom_up[i] = bottom_up[i-1] + bottom_up[i-2]

    return bottom_up[n]

print(fib_bottom_up(20000))

I'm not sure I'm repeating someone but some time ago some good soul wrote Y-operator for recursively called function like:

def tail_recursive(func):
  y_operator = (lambda f: (lambda y: y(y))(lambda x: f(lambda *args: lambda: x(x)(*args))))(func)
  def wrap_func_tail(*args):
    out = y_operator(*args)
    while callable(out): out = out()
    return out
  return wrap_func_tail

and then recursive function needs form:

def my_recursive_func(g):
  def wrapped(some_arg, acc):
    if <condition>: return acc
    return g(some_arg, acc)
  return wrapped

# and finally you call it in code

(tail_recursive(my_recursive_func))(some_arg, acc)

for Fibonacci numbers your function looks like this:

def fib(g):
  def wrapped(n_1, n_2, n):
    if n == 0: return n_1
    return g(n_2, n_1 + n_2, n-1)
  return wrapped

print((tail_recursive(fib))(0, 1, 1000000))

output:

..684684301719893411568996526838242546875

(actually tones of digits)