Get class that defined method
Question:
How can I get the class that defined a method in Python?
I’d want the following example to print “__main__.FooClass
“:
class FooClass:
def foo_method(self):
print "foo"
class BarClass(FooClass):
pass
bar = BarClass()
print get_class_that_defined_method(bar.foo_method)
Answers:
import inspect
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
for cls in inspect.getmro(meth.im_class):
if meth.__name__ in cls.__dict__:
return cls
return None
Thanks Sr2222 for pointing out I was missing the point…
Here’s the corrected approach which is just like Alex’s but does not require to import anything. I don’t think it’s an improvement though, unless there’s a huge hierarchy of inherited classes as this approach stops as soon as the defining class is found, instead of returning the whole inheritance as getmro
does. As said, this is a very unlikely scenario.
def get_class_that_defined_method(method):
method_name = method.__name__
if method.__self__:
classes = [method.__self__.__class__]
else:
#unbound method
classes = [method.im_class]
while classes:
c = classes.pop()
if method_name in c.__dict__:
return c
else:
classes = list(c.__bases__) + classes
return None
And the Example:
>>> class A(object):
... def test(self): pass
>>> class B(A): pass
>>> class C(B): pass
>>> class D(A):
... def test(self): print 1
>>> class E(D,C): pass
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(A().test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(A.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(B.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(C.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(D.test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(E().test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(E.test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> E().test()
1
Alex solution returns the same results. As long as Alex approach can be used, I would use it instead of this one.
I started doing something somewhat similar, basically the idea was checking whenever a method in a base class had been implemented or not in a sub class. Turned out the way I originally did it I could not detect when an intermediate class was actually implementing the method.
My workaround for it was quite simple actually; setting a method attribute and testing its presence later. Here’s an simplification of the whole thing:
class A():
def method(self):
pass
method._orig = None # This attribute will be gone once the method is implemented
def run_method(self, *args, **kwargs):
if hasattr(self.method, '_orig'):
raise Exception('method not implemented')
self.method(*args, **kwargs)
class B(A):
pass
class C(B):
def method(self):
pass
class D(C):
pass
B().run_method() # ==> Raises Exception: method not implemented
C().run_method() # OK
D().run_method() # OK
UPDATE: Actually call method()
from run_method()
(isn’t that the spirit?) and have it pass all arguments unmodified to the method.
P.S.: This answer does not directly answer the question. IMHO there are two reasons one would want to know which class defined a method; first is to point fingers at a class in debug code (such as in exception handling), and the second is to determine if the method has been re-implemented (where method is a stub meant to be implemented by the programmer). This answer solves that second case in a different way.
I don’t know why no one has ever brought this up or why the top answer has 50 upvotes when it is slow as hell, but you can also do the following:
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
return meth.im_class.__name__
For python 3 I believe this changed and you’ll need to look into .__qualname__
.
In Python 3, if you need the actual class object you can do:
import sys
f = Foo.my_function
vars(sys.modules[f.__module__])[f.__qualname__.split('.')[0]] # Gets Foo object
If the function could belong to a nested class you would need to iterate as follows:
f = Foo.Bar.my_function
vals = vars(sys.modules[f.__module__])
for attr in f.__qualname__.split('.')[:-1]:
vals = vals[attr]
# vals is now the class Foo.Bar
Python 3
Solved it in a very simple way:
str(bar.foo_method).split(" ", 3)[-2]
This gives
'FooClass.foo_method'
Split on the dot to get the class and the function name separately
I found __qualname__ is useful in Python3.
I test it like that:
class Cls(object):
def func(self):
print('1')
c = Cls()
print(c.func.__qualname__)
# output is: 'Cls.func'
def single_func():
print(2)
print(single_func.__module__)
# output: '__main__'
print(single_func.__qualname__)
# output: 'single_func'
After my test, I found another answer here.
if you get this error:
'function' object has no attribute 'im_class'
try this:
import inspect
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
class_func_defided = meth.__globals__[meth.__qualname__.split('.')[0]]
#full_func_name = "%s.%s.%s"%(class_func_defided.__module__,class_func_defided.__name__,meth.__name__)
if inspect.isfunction(class_func_defided):
print("%s is not part of a class."%meth.__name__)
return None
return class_func_defided
sample test:
class ExampleClass:
@staticmethod
def ex_static_method():
print("hello from static method")
def ex_instance_method(self):
print("hello from instance method")
def ex_funct(self):
print("hello from simple function")
if __name__ == "__main__":
static_method_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ExampleClass.ex_static_method)
static_method_class.ex_static_method()
instance_method_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ExampleClass.ex_instance_method)
instance_method_class().ex_instance_method()
function_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ex_funct)
How can I get the class that defined a method in Python?
I’d want the following example to print “__main__.FooClass
“:
class FooClass:
def foo_method(self):
print "foo"
class BarClass(FooClass):
pass
bar = BarClass()
print get_class_that_defined_method(bar.foo_method)
import inspect
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
for cls in inspect.getmro(meth.im_class):
if meth.__name__ in cls.__dict__:
return cls
return None
Thanks Sr2222 for pointing out I was missing the point…
Here’s the corrected approach which is just like Alex’s but does not require to import anything. I don’t think it’s an improvement though, unless there’s a huge hierarchy of inherited classes as this approach stops as soon as the defining class is found, instead of returning the whole inheritance as getmro
does. As said, this is a very unlikely scenario.
def get_class_that_defined_method(method):
method_name = method.__name__
if method.__self__:
classes = [method.__self__.__class__]
else:
#unbound method
classes = [method.im_class]
while classes:
c = classes.pop()
if method_name in c.__dict__:
return c
else:
classes = list(c.__bases__) + classes
return None
And the Example:
>>> class A(object):
... def test(self): pass
>>> class B(A): pass
>>> class C(B): pass
>>> class D(A):
... def test(self): print 1
>>> class E(D,C): pass
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(A().test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(A.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(B.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(C.test)
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(D.test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(E().test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> get_class_that_defined_method(E.test)
<class '__main__.D'>
>>> E().test()
1
Alex solution returns the same results. As long as Alex approach can be used, I would use it instead of this one.
I started doing something somewhat similar, basically the idea was checking whenever a method in a base class had been implemented or not in a sub class. Turned out the way I originally did it I could not detect when an intermediate class was actually implementing the method.
My workaround for it was quite simple actually; setting a method attribute and testing its presence later. Here’s an simplification of the whole thing:
class A():
def method(self):
pass
method._orig = None # This attribute will be gone once the method is implemented
def run_method(self, *args, **kwargs):
if hasattr(self.method, '_orig'):
raise Exception('method not implemented')
self.method(*args, **kwargs)
class B(A):
pass
class C(B):
def method(self):
pass
class D(C):
pass
B().run_method() # ==> Raises Exception: method not implemented
C().run_method() # OK
D().run_method() # OK
UPDATE: Actually call method()
from run_method()
(isn’t that the spirit?) and have it pass all arguments unmodified to the method.
P.S.: This answer does not directly answer the question. IMHO there are two reasons one would want to know which class defined a method; first is to point fingers at a class in debug code (such as in exception handling), and the second is to determine if the method has been re-implemented (where method is a stub meant to be implemented by the programmer). This answer solves that second case in a different way.
I don’t know why no one has ever brought this up or why the top answer has 50 upvotes when it is slow as hell, but you can also do the following:
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
return meth.im_class.__name__
For python 3 I believe this changed and you’ll need to look into .__qualname__
.
In Python 3, if you need the actual class object you can do:
import sys
f = Foo.my_function
vars(sys.modules[f.__module__])[f.__qualname__.split('.')[0]] # Gets Foo object
If the function could belong to a nested class you would need to iterate as follows:
f = Foo.Bar.my_function
vals = vars(sys.modules[f.__module__])
for attr in f.__qualname__.split('.')[:-1]:
vals = vals[attr]
# vals is now the class Foo.Bar
Python 3
Solved it in a very simple way:
str(bar.foo_method).split(" ", 3)[-2]
This gives
'FooClass.foo_method'
Split on the dot to get the class and the function name separately
I found __qualname__ is useful in Python3.
I test it like that:
class Cls(object):
def func(self):
print('1')
c = Cls()
print(c.func.__qualname__)
# output is: 'Cls.func'
def single_func():
print(2)
print(single_func.__module__)
# output: '__main__'
print(single_func.__qualname__)
# output: 'single_func'
After my test, I found another answer here.
if you get this error:
'function' object has no attribute 'im_class'
try this:
import inspect
def get_class_that_defined_method(meth):
class_func_defided = meth.__globals__[meth.__qualname__.split('.')[0]]
#full_func_name = "%s.%s.%s"%(class_func_defided.__module__,class_func_defided.__name__,meth.__name__)
if inspect.isfunction(class_func_defided):
print("%s is not part of a class."%meth.__name__)
return None
return class_func_defided
sample test:
class ExampleClass:
@staticmethod
def ex_static_method():
print("hello from static method")
def ex_instance_method(self):
print("hello from instance method")
def ex_funct(self):
print("hello from simple function")
if __name__ == "__main__":
static_method_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ExampleClass.ex_static_method)
static_method_class.ex_static_method()
instance_method_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ExampleClass.ex_instance_method)
instance_method_class().ex_instance_method()
function_class = get_class_that_defined_method(ex_funct)