Python’s magic method __setattr__() implements the built-in setattr() function that takes an object and an attribute name as arguments and removes the attribute from the object.
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.
Syntax and Minimal Example
object.__setattr__(self, attr_name, attr_value)Let’s have a look at an example where you override the __setattr__ magic method of a custom class Person to simply print out the arguments rather than really changing the attributes of the class as the default setattr() function would do:
class Person:
def __setattr__(self, attr_name, attr_value):
print(attr_key, attr_value)
alice = Person()
setattr(alice, 'age', 32)
# age 32
💡Note that if you wouldn’t have overridden the __setattr__() magic method, Python would’ve created a new attribute for the alice instance, so when calling alice.age, you’d have obtained the value 32.
You can see this scenario next in our recap on the built-in setattr() function.
Background setattr()
Python’s built-in setattr(object, string, value) function takes three arguments:
- an object,
- a string, and
- an arbitrary value.
It sets the attribute given by the string on the object to the specified value.
After calling the function, there’s a new or updated attribute at the given instance, named and valued as provided in the arguments.
For example, setattr(object, 'attribute', 42) is equivalent to object.attribute = 42.
Before we dive into another practical example of the setattr() function, feel free to watch my explainer video here:
Let’s dive into an example next.
In object-oriented programming, you can often see the use of the setattr() built-in function in combination with the object self in the __init__() initializer method.
The idea is to create a class with dynamic attributes chosen at runtime by the user or the program. This way, you can create container classes that hold arbitrary attributes.
class Person:
def __init__(self, attributes):
for key, value in attributes.items():
setattr(self, key, value)
# Create two different persons
alice = Person({'name': 'Alice', 'income': 180000, 'eyes': 'blue'})
bob = Person({'firstname': 'Max', 'lastname': 'Power'})
# Different persons, different attributes
print(alice.name + ' ' + str(alice.income) + ' ' + alice.eyes)
print(bob.firstname + ' ' + bob.lastname)
# Output:
'''
Alice 180000 blue
Max Power
'''
This is a convenient way to create classes with different attribute names.
References:
- https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html
- Python
__delattr__()magic method - Python
setattr()built-in function
Where to Go From Here?
Enough theory. Let’s get some practice!
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