How to Skip Cell Execution in Jupyter Notebook

In this article, I’ll show you how to skip the execution of cells in Jupyter Notebook based on certain conditions.
The methods described here are applicable to Google Colaboratory and Kaggle Notebooks.

How to Skip a Cell Execution

To skip cell execution, create a custom magic command as follows:

1. First, create a skip magic command that does nothing.

   from IPython.core.magic import register_cell_magic
   
   @register_cell_magic
   def skip(line, cell):
       return
   

2. To skip a cell, simply add %%skip at the top line of the cell.

   %%skip
   <code>
   

How to Conditionally Skip a Cell Execution

Next, let’s explore how to skip cell execution based on a condition.

1. Create a skip_if magic command.

   from IPython.core.magic import register_cell_magic
   from IPython import get_ipython
   
   @register_cell_magic
   def skip_if(line, cell):
       if eval(line):
           return
       get_ipython().run_cell(cell)
   

2. To use it, add %%skip_if <condition> at the top of the cell.

   %%skip_if <condition>
   <code>
   

How to Skip All Subsequent Cells Based on a Condition

Finally, I will explain how to skip all subsequent cells based on a condition.

1. Modify the run_cell function as follows:

   from IPython import get_ipython
   
   SKIP_CONDITION = <condition>
   
   # Save the original run_cell
   run_cell_org = get_ipython().run_cell
   
   # Create a custom run_cell that skips execution based on the condition
   def custom_run_cell(*args, **kwargs):
       if SKIP_CONDITION:
           if 'raw_cell' in kwargs:
               kwargs['raw_cell'] = ""
           else:
               args = list(args)
               args[0] = ""
               args = tuple(args)
       return run_cell_org(*args, **kwargs)
   
   # Replace the original run_cell
   get_ipython().run_cell = custom_run_cell
   

2. All subsequent cells will be skipped if the <condition> is true.