Python __round__() Magic Method

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Syntax

object.__round__(self, ndigits=0)

The Python __round__() method implements the built-in round() function. For example, if you attempt to call round(x) or round(x, ndigits), Python will run the x.__round__() or x.__round__(ndigits) method, respectively.

The following code snippet overrides the __round__() dunder method to return the rounded age of a Person when you pass an object of type Person into the round() function:

class Person:
    def __init__(self, age):
        self.age = age

    def __round__(self, ndigits=0):
        return round(self.age)



alice = Person(42.42424242)
print(round(alice))
# 42

How to fix TypeError: type XXX doesn’t define __round__ method

Note that without defining the __round__() method, Python would’ve raised a TypeError:

class Person:
    def __init__(self, age):
        self.age = age


alice = Person(42.42424242)
print(round(alice))

Output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\...\code.py", line 7, in <module>
    print(round(alice))
TypeError: type Person doesn't define __round__ method

To fix this TypeError, simply define the __round__() method as outlined in the first code snippet in this article.

We call this a “Dunder Method” for “Double Underscore Method” (also called “magic method”). To get a list of all dunder methods with explanation, check out our dunder cheat sheet article on this blog.

Background round()

Python’s built-in round() function takes two input arguments: a number and an optional precision in decimal digits. It rounds the number to the given precision and returns the result. The return value has the same type as the input number—or integer if the precision argument is omitted. Per default, the precision is set to 0 digits, so round(3.14) results in 3.

Here are some examples:

>>> round(3.14)
3
>>> round(3.14, ndigits=1)
3.1
>>> round(3.13, ndigits=-1)
0.0
>>> round(4458.1242, ndigits=-1)
4460.0
>>> round(3.14159, ndigits=3)
3.142

To understand this operation in detail, feel free to read over our tutorial or watch the following video:

References:

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