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static method called instaed of instance method [duplicate]

I'd like to do something like this:
class X:
#classmethod
def id(cls):
return cls.__name__
def id(self):
return self.__class__.__name__
And now call id() for either the class or an instance of it:
>>> X.id()
'X'
>>> X().id()
'X'
Obviously, this exact code doesn't work, but is there a similar way to make it work?
Or any other workarounds to get such behavior without too much "hacky" stuff?

Class and instance methods live in the same namespace and you cannot reuse names like that; the last definition of id will win in that case.
The class method will continue to work on instances however, there is no need to create a separate instance method; just use:
class X:
#classmethod
def id(cls):
return cls.__name__
because the method continues to be bound to the class:
>>> class X:
... #classmethod
... def id(cls):
... return cls.__name__
...
>>> X.id()
'X'
>>> X().id()
'X'
This is explicitly documented:
It can be called either on the class (such as C.f()) or on an instance (such as C().f()). The instance is ignored except for its class.
If you do need distinguish between binding to the class and an instance
If you need a method to work differently based on where it is being used on; bound to a class when accessed on the class, bound to the instance when accessed on the instance, you'll need to create a custom descriptor object.
The descriptor API is how Python causes functions to be bound as methods, and bind classmethod objects to the class; see the descriptor howto.
You can provide your own descriptor for methods by creating an object that has a __get__ method. Here is a simple one that switches what the method is bound to based on context, if the first argument to __get__ is None, then the descriptor is being bound to a class, otherwise it is being bound to an instance:
class class_or_instancemethod(classmethod):
def __get__(self, instance, type_):
descr_get = super().__get__ if instance is None else self.__func__.__get__
return descr_get(instance, type_)
This re-uses classmethod and only re-defines how it handles binding, delegating the original implementation for instance is None, and to the standard function __get__ implementation otherwise.
Note that in the method itself, you may then have to test, what it is bound to. isinstance(firstargument, type) is a good test for this:
>>> class X:
... #class_or_instancemethod
... def foo(self_or_cls):
... if isinstance(self_or_cls, type):
... return f"bound to the class, {self_or_cls}"
... else:
... return f"bound to the instance, {self_or_cls"
...
>>> X.foo()
"bound to the class, <class '__main__.X'>"
>>> X().foo()
'bound to the instance, <__main__.X object at 0x10ac7d580>'
An alternative implementation could use two functions, one for when bound to a class, the other when bound to an instance:
class hybridmethod:
def __init__(self, fclass, finstance=None, doc=None):
self.fclass = fclass
self.finstance = finstance
self.__doc__ = doc or fclass.__doc__
# support use on abstract base classes
self.__isabstractmethod__ = bool(
getattr(fclass, '__isabstractmethod__', False)
)
def classmethod(self, fclass):
return type(self)(fclass, self.finstance, None)
def instancemethod(self, finstance):
return type(self)(self.fclass, finstance, self.__doc__)
def __get__(self, instance, cls):
if instance is None or self.finstance is None:
# either bound to the class, or no instance method available
return self.fclass.__get__(cls, None)
return self.finstance.__get__(instance, cls)
This then is a classmethod with an optional instance method. Use it like you'd use a property object; decorate the instance method with #<name>.instancemethod:
>>> class X:
... #hybridmethod
... def bar(cls):
... return f"bound to the class, {cls}"
... #bar.instancemethod
... def bar(self):
... return f"bound to the instance, {self}"
...
>>> X.bar()
"bound to the class, <class '__main__.X'>"
>>> X().bar()
'bound to the instance, <__main__.X object at 0x10a010f70>'
Personally, my advice is to be cautious about using this; the exact same method altering behaviour based on the context can be confusing to use. However, there are use-cases for this, such as SQLAlchemy's differentiation between SQL objects and SQL values, where column objects in a model switch behaviour like this; see their Hybrid Attributes documentation. The implementation for this follows the exact same pattern as my hybridmethod class above.

I have no idea what's your actual use case is, but you can do something like this using a descriptor:
class Desc(object):
def __get__(self, ins, typ):
if ins is None:
print 'Called by a class.'
return lambda : typ.__name__
else:
print 'Called by an instance.'
return lambda : ins.__class__.__name__
class X(object):
id = Desc()
x = X()
print x.id()
print X.id()
Output
Called by an instance.
X
Called by a class.
X

It can be done, quite succinctly, by binding the instance-bound version of your method explicitly to the instance (rather than to the class). Python will invoke the instance attribute found in Class().__dict__ when Class().foo() is called (because it searches the instance's __dict__ before the class'), and the class-bound method found in Class.__dict__ when Class.foo() is called.
This has a number of potential use cases, though whether they are anti-patterns is open for debate:
class Test:
def __init__(self):
self.check = self.__check
#staticmethod
def check():
print('Called as class')
def __check(self):
print('Called as instance, probably')
>>> Test.check()
Called as class
>>> Test().check()
Called as instance, probably
Or... let's say we want to be able to abuse stuff like map():
class Str(str):
def __init__(self, *args):
self.split = self.__split
#staticmethod
def split(sep=None, maxsplit=-1):
return lambda string: string.split(sep, maxsplit)
def __split(self, sep=None, maxsplit=-1):
return super().split(sep, maxsplit)
>>> s = Str('w-o-w')
>>> s.split('-')
['w', 'o', 'w']
>>> Str.split('-')(s)
['w', 'o', 'w']
>>> list(map(Str.split('-'), [s]*3))
[['w', 'o', 'w'], ['w', 'o', 'w'], ['w', 'o', 'w']]

"types" provides something quite interesting since Python 3.4: DynamicClassAttribute
It is not doing 100% of what you had in mind, but it seems to be closely related, and you might need to tweak a bit my metaclass but, rougly, you can have this;
from types import DynamicClassAttribute
class XMeta(type):
def __getattr__(self, value):
if value == 'id':
return XMeta.id # You may want to change a bit that line.
#property
def id(self):
return "Class {}".format(self.__name__)
That would define your class attribute. For the instance attribute:
class X(metaclass=XMeta):
#DynamicClassAttribute
def id(self):
return "Instance {}".format(self.__class__.__name__)
It might be a bit overkill especially if you want to stay away from metaclasses. It's a trick I'd like to explore on my side, so I just wanted to share this hidden jewel, in case you can polish it and make it shine!
>>> X().id
'Instance X'
>>> X.id
'Class X'
Voila...

In your example, you could simply delete the second method entirely, since both the staticmethod and the class method do the same thing.
If you wanted them to do different things:
class X:
def id(self=None):
if self is None:
# It's being called as a static method
else:
# It's being called as an instance method

(Python 3 only) Elaborating on the idea of a pure-Python implementation of #classmethod, we can declare an #class_or_instance_method as a decorator, which is actually a class implementing the attribute descriptor protocol:
import inspect
class class_or_instance_method(object):
def __init__(self, f):
self.f = f
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
if instance is not None:
class_or_instance = instance
else:
class_or_instance = owner
def newfunc(*args, **kwargs):
return self.f(class_or_instance, *args, **kwargs)
return newfunc
class A:
#class_or_instance_method
def foo(self_or_cls, a, b, c=None):
if inspect.isclass(self_or_cls):
print("Called as a class method")
else:
print("Called as an instance method")

Naming conventions for class method vs instance method

I have two methods, one for the individual Instance, and one for every Instance in that class:
class MasterMatches(models.Model):
#classmethod
def update_url_if_any_matches_has_one(cls):
# apply to all instances, call instance method.
def update_url_if_any_matches_has_one(self):
# do something
Should I name these the same? Or, what is a good naming convention here?

The question of using the same names can be clarified by understanding how decorators work.
#dec
def foo(x):
print(x)
translates to
def foo(x):
print(x)
foo = dec(foo)
In your example the decorator syntax can be expanded to
class MasterMatches(models.Model):
def update_url_if_any_matches_has_one(cls):
# apply to all instances, call instance method.
update_url_if_any_matches_has_one = classmethod(update_url_if_any_matches_has_one)
def update_url_if_any_matches_has_one(self):
# do something
The former implementation of update_url_if_any_matches_has_one will be overwritten by the latter.

Usually use self declaration style. #classmethod use only if method not works with class instance fields.
Function decorated as #classmethod takes the first argument is the class type, while normal method takes instance of object.
class A:
#classmethod
def a(cls):
print(cls)
def b(self):
print(self)
a = A()
a.a()
a.b()
# Output:
# <class '__main__.A'>
# <__main__.A object at 0x03FC5DF0>
It can be useful if you have a static class fields. The to access therm you don't need explicitly specify the class name. But you don't get access to instance fields. Example:
class A:
field = 1
#classmethod
def a(cls):
print(cls.field)
def b(self):
self.field = 2
print(self.field, A.field)
a = A()
a.a()
a.b()
# Outputs:
# 1
# 2 1

In Python, class from which a given instance is inheriting a particular method

I know that in Python, given a class ClassA, with
inspect.getmembers(ClassA, predicate=inspect.ismethod)
I can iterate over the different methods present in ClassA. Inherited methods are also gathered, which is convenient in my case. But what I would need is, given a particular method method1 of ClassA, to get the class from which ClassA inherited method1. It might be ClassA itself, or any of its parents/grandparents. I thought I could recursively traverse the __bases__ attribute, looking for the method1 attribute at each step. But maybe this functionality is already implemented somewhere. Is there another way?

Look through the MRO (Method Resolution Order), using inspect.getmro() (which works on both old and new-style classes):
def class_for_method(cls, method):
return next((c for c in inspect.getmro(cls)
if method.__func__ in vars(c).values()), None)
There is currently no stdlib method to do this search for you, no.
Demo:
>>> import inspect
>>> def class_for_method(cls, method):
... return next((c for c in inspect.getmro(cls)
... if method.__func__ in vars(c).values()), None)
...
>>> class Base1(object):
... def foo(self): pass
...
>>> class Base2(object):
... pass
...
>>> class ClassA(Base1, Base2):
... pass
...
>>> class_for_method(ClassA, ClassA.foo)
<class '__main__.Base1'>
If no base class is found, the above expression returns None:
>>> class Bar:
... def spam(): pass
...
>>> class_for_method(ClassA, Bar.spam) is None
True

Check if a function uses #classmethod

TL;DR How do I find out whether a function was defined using #classmethod or something with the same effect?
My problem
For implementing a class decorator I would like to check if a method takes the class as its first argument, for example as achieved via
#classmethod
def function(cls, ...):
I found a solution to check for #staticmethod via the types module (isinstance(foo, types.UnboundMethodType) is False if the foo is static, see here), but did not find anything on how to do so for #classmethod
Context
What I am trying to do is something along the lines of
def class_decorator(cls):
for member in cls.__dict__:
if (isclassmethod(getattr(cls, member))):
# do something with the method
setattr(cls, member, modified_method)
return cls
and I do not know how to implement what I called isclassmethod in this example

If the object is a method object, and so has a method.__self__ attribute, and that attribute is the class you got the attribute from, then it'll take the class as the first argument. It has been bound to the class.
Note that you already have a bound object at this point, so you don't need to pass in the class again, unless you first extract the original function from method.__func__.
Here is an illustration, the class Foo has a class method bar and a regular method baz, which is not bound when you access it directly on the class:
>>> class Foo:
... #classmethod
... def bar(cls):
... pass
... def baz(self):
... pass
...
>>> Foo.baz
<function Foo.baz at 0x1097d1e18>
>>> Foo.bar
<bound method Foo.bar of <class '__main__.Foo'>>
>>> Foo.bar.__self__
<class '__main__.Foo'>
>>> Foo.bar.__self__ is Foo
True
Calling Foo.bar() automatically passes in Foo.bar.__self__ as the first argument.
If you need to test such methods, use inspect.ismethod(), and if that returns True test the __self__ attribute:
import inspect
if inspect.ismethod(cls.method) and cls.method.__self__ is cls:
# method bound to the class, e.g. a classmethod
This should work for any custom descriptors that work like classmethod does, as well.
If you need to know with certainty that the method was produced by a classmethod object, you'll need to look up the attributes directly in the class namespace (cls.__dict__ or vars(cls)), and do so in each class in the class hierarchy in method resolution order:
def isclassmethod(method):
bound_to = getattr(method, '__self__', None)
if not isinstance(bound_to, type):
# must be bound to a class
return False
name = method.__name__
for cls in bound_to.__mro__:
descriptor = vars(cls).get(name)
if descriptor is not None:
return isinstance(descriptor, classmethod)
return False
and a full test of the above two approaches using a base class and a derived class, with a custom descriptor that binds a function the same way a classmethod would, but is not, itself, a classmethod:
>>> class notclassmethod:
... def __init__(self, f):
... self.f = f
... def __get__(self, _, typ=None):
... return self.f.__get__(typ, typ)
...
>>> class Base:
... #classmethod
... def base_cm(cls): pass
... #notclassmethod
... def base_ncm(cls): pass
... def base_m(self): pass
...
>>> class Derived(Base):
... #classmethod
... def derived_cm(cls): pass
... #notclassmethod
... def derived_ncm(cls): pass
... def derived_m(self): pass
...
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.base_cm) and Derived.base_cm.__self__ is Derived
True
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.base_ncm) and Derived.base_ncm.__self__ is Derived
True
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.base_m) and Derived.base_m.__self__ is Derived
False
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.derived_cm) and Derived.derived_cm.__self__ is Derived
True
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.derived_ncm) and Derived.derived_ncm.__self__ is Derived
True
>>> inspect.ismethod(Derived.derived_m) and Derived.derived_m.__self__ is Derived
False
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.base_cm)
True
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.base_ncm)
False
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.base_m)
False
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.derived_cm)
True
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.derived_ncm)
False
>>> isclassmethod(Derived.derived_m)
False
The isclassmethod() function correctly distinguishes between the classmethod and notclassmethod descriptors.
Historical note: this answer included references to Python 2, but with Python 2 having reached EOL were removed as no longer relevant.

You should use inspect.ismethod. It works because classmethod binds the function to the class object. See the following code:
>>> class Foo:
... #classmethod
... def bar():
... pass
... def baz():
... pass
...
>>> Foo.bar
<bound method type.bar of <class '__main__.Foo'>>
>>> Foo.baz
<function Foo.baz at 0x0000000002CCC1E0>
>>> type(Foo.bar)
<class 'method'>
>>> type(Foo.baz)
<class 'function'>
>>> import inspect
>>> inspect.ismethod(Foo.bar)
True
>>> inspect.ismethod(Foo.baz)
False

class Foo(object):
#classmethod
def baaz(cls):
print "baaz"
isinstance(Foo.__dict__["baaz"], classmethod)

None of the answers address the problem of identifying whether a method is decorated with class method from an instance of the class. Following code explores the class dict of an instance to distinguish between classmethod from other methods.
class MyClass(object):
#classmethod
def class_method(cls):
pass
def instance_method(self):
pass
#staticmethod
def static_method():
pass
def blas(): pass
t = MyClass()
isinstance(t.__class__.__dict__[t.class_method.__name__], classmethod) # True
isinstance(t.__class__.__dict__[t.static_method.__name__], classmethod) # False
isinstance(t.__class__.__dict__[t.instance_method.__name__], classmethod) # False
isinstance(t.__class__.__dict__[t.blas.__name__], classmethod) # False
This will work for both Python 2 and 3.

This works for me:
def is_classmethod(method):
"""
Is method a classmethod?
"""
return isinstance(getattr(method, '__self__', None), type)
It basically tests if method.__self__ exists and is a class, as in Martijn's answer, but does not require access to the class itself.

getattr on class objects

class A:
def foo(self):
print "foo()"
getattr(A, foo) # True
A.foo() # error
getattr(A(), foo) # True
A().foo() # prints "foo()"
That being said, here is my problem:
I wish to store test case meta information as attributes of the Test Case class objects themselves, not on instances of them.
I have a list of attribute names to extract, but if there is an instance method of the same name, then getattr(class_obj, attr) will return True, but getattr(class_obj, attr)() raises an Error.
Is there a way to tell getattr not to include attributes of the instantiated class and only of the class object itself?
EDIT: I tried accessing class_obj.__dict__ directly (which I understand is bad practice), but it does not include some attributes like __name__
EDIT: Rephrase of the question. Is there a way to differentiate between methods of the class obj and the methods of an instance of the class?

Is this good enough?
import types
class Test(object):
#staticmethod
def foo():
print 'foo'
def bar(self):
print 'bar'
In combination with:
>>>(isinstance(getattr(Test, 'foo'), types.FunctionType),
isinstance(getattr(Test, 'bar'), types.FunctionType))
True, False
You can also use the inspect module:
>>> inspect.isfunction(Test.foo)
True
>>> inspect.isfunction(Test.bar)
False
With a little additional work you can even distinguish class methods from instance methods and static methods:
import inspect
def get_type(cls, attr):
try:
return [a.kind for a in inspect.classify_class_attrs(cls) if a.name == attr][0]
except IndexError:
return None
class Test(object):
#classmethod
def foo(cls):
print 'foo'
def bar(self):
print 'bar'
#staticmethod
def baz():
print 'baz'
You can use it as:
>>> get_type(Test, 'foo')
'class method'
>>> get_type(Test, 'bar')
'method'
>>> get_type(Test, 'baz')
'static method'
>>> get_type(Test, 'nonexistant')
None

Your results from an incorrect definition of foo, not any underlying semantics of class attributes. By default, a function declared inside a class is an instance method, which must take at least one argument, an instance of the class. Conventionally, it is referred to as self:
class A:
def foo(self):
print "foo()"
Normally, you would call such a method like this:
a = A()
a.foo() # passes the object 'a' implicitly as the value of the parameter 'self'
but this is legal as well
a = A()
A.foo(a) # pass the object 'a' explicitly as the value of the parameter 'self'
In order to define a function inside a class that doesn't take any such implicit arguments, you need to decorate it with the #staticmethod decorator:
class A:
#staticmethod
def foo():
print "foo()"
Now, you can call foo the way you tried to previously:
>>> A.foo()
foo()

You want something like this:
from inspect import ismethod
from collections import Callable
def can_i_call(func):
if not isinstance(func, Callable):
# not a callable at all
return False
if not ismethod(func):
# regular function or class or whatever
return True
# func is a method
return func.im_self is not None
Note: this will only test whether or not an attempt to call will error out because you're calling an unbound method without a self. It doesn't guarantee that func() will succeed, i.e. not fail for any other reason.