types
— Dynamic type creation and names for built-in types¶
Source code:Lib/types.py
This module defines utility functions to assist in dynamic creation ofnew types.
It also defines names for some object types that are used by the standardPython interpreter, but not exposed as builtins likeint
orstr
are.
Finally, it provides some additional type-related utility classes and functionsthat are not fundamental enough to be builtins.
Dynamic Type Creation¶
- types.new_class(name,bases=(),kwds=None,exec_body=None)¶
Creates a class object dynamically using the appropriate metaclass.
The first three arguments are the components that make up a classdefinition header: the class name, the base classes (in order), thekeyword arguments (such as
metaclass
).Theexec_body argument is a callback that is used to populate thefreshly created class namespace. It should accept the class namespaceas its sole argument and update the namespace directly with the classcontents. If no callback is provided, it has the same effect as passingin
lambdans:None
.Added in version 3.3.
- types.prepare_class(name,bases=(),kwds=None)¶
Calculates the appropriate metaclass and creates the class namespace.
The arguments are the components that make up a class definition header:the class name, the base classes (in order) and the keyword arguments(such as
metaclass
).The return value is a 3-tuple:
metaclass,namespace,kwds
metaclass is the appropriate metaclass,namespace is theprepared class namespace andkwds is an updated copy of the passedinkwds argument with any
'metaclass'
entry removed. If nokwdsargument is passed in, this will be an empty dict.Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.6:The default value for the
namespace
element of the returnedtuple has changed. Now an insertion-order-preserving mapping isused when the metaclass does not have a__prepare__
method.
See also
- Metaclasses
Full details of the class creation process supported by these functions
- PEP 3115 - Metaclasses in Python 3000
Introduced the
__prepare__
namespace hook
- types.resolve_bases(bases)¶
Resolve MRO entries dynamically as specified byPEP 560.
This function looks for items inbases that are not instances of
type
, and returns a tuple where each such object that hasan__mro_entries__()
method is replaced with an unpacked result ofcalling this method. If abases item is an instance oftype
,or it doesn’t have an__mro_entries__()
method, then it is included inthe return tuple unchanged.Added in version 3.7.
- types.get_original_bases(cls,/)¶
Return the tuple of objects originally given as the bases ofcls beforethe
__mro_entries__()
method has been called on any bases(following the mechanisms laid out inPEP 560). This is useful forintrospectingGenerics.For classes that have an
__orig_bases__
attribute, thisfunction returns the value ofcls.__orig_bases__
.For classes without the__orig_bases__
attribute,cls.__bases__
is returned.Examples:
fromtypingimportTypeVar,Generic,NamedTuple,TypedDictT=TypeVar("T")classFoo(Generic[T]):...classBar(Foo[int],float):...classBaz(list[str]):...Eggs=NamedTuple("Eggs",[("a",int),("b",str)])Spam=TypedDict("Spam",{"a":int,"b":str})assertBar.__bases__==(Foo,float)assertget_original_bases(Bar)==(Foo[int],float)assertBaz.__bases__==(list,)assertget_original_bases(Baz)==(list[str],)assertEggs.__bases__==(tuple,)assertget_original_bases(Eggs)==(NamedTuple,)assertSpam.__bases__==(dict,)assertget_original_bases(Spam)==(TypedDict,)assertint.__bases__==(object,)assertget_original_bases(int)==(object,)
Added in version 3.12.
See also
PEP 560 - Core support for typing module and generic types
Standard Interpreter Types¶
This module provides names for many of the types that are required toimplement a Python interpreter. It deliberately avoids including some ofthe types that arise only incidentally during processing such as thelistiterator
type.
Typical use of these names is forisinstance()
orissubclass()
checks.
If you instantiate any of these types, note that signatures may vary between Python versions.
Standard names are defined for the following types:
- types.FunctionType¶
- types.LambdaType¶
The type of user-defined functions and functions created by
lambda
expressions.Raises anauditing event
function.__new__
with argumentcode
.The audit event only occurs for direct instantiation of function objects,and is not raised for normal compilation.
- types.CoroutineType¶
The type ofcoroutine objects, created by
asyncdef
functions.Added in version 3.5.
- types.AsyncGeneratorType¶
The type ofasynchronous generator-iterator objects, created byasynchronous generator functions.
Added in version 3.6.
- classtypes.CodeType(**kwargs)¶
The type ofcode objects such as returned by
compile()
.Raises anauditing event
code.__new__
with argumentscode
,filename
,name
,argcount
,posonlyargcount
,kwonlyargcount
,nlocals
,stacksize
,flags
.Note that the audited arguments may not match the names or positionsrequired by the initializer. The audit event only occurs for directinstantiation of code objects, and is not raised for normal compilation.
- types.CellType¶
The type for cell objects: such objects are used as containers fora function’sclosure variables.
Added in version 3.8.
- types.MethodType¶
The type of methods of user-defined class instances.
- types.BuiltinFunctionType¶
- types.BuiltinMethodType¶
The type of built-in functions like
len()
orsys.exit()
, andmethods of built-in classes. (Here, the term “built-in” means “written inC”.)
- types.WrapperDescriptorType¶
The type of methods of some built-in data types and base classes such as
object.__init__()
orobject.__lt__()
.Added in version 3.7.
- types.MethodWrapperType¶
The type ofbound methods of some built-in data types and base classes.For example it is the type of
object().__str__
.Added in version 3.7.
- types.NotImplementedType¶
The type of
NotImplemented
.Added in version 3.10.
- types.MethodDescriptorType¶
The type of methods of some built-in data types such as
str.join()
.Added in version 3.7.
- types.ClassMethodDescriptorType¶
The type ofunbound class methods of some built-in data types such as
dict.__dict__['fromkeys']
.Added in version 3.7.
- classtypes.ModuleType(name,doc=None)¶
The type ofmodules. The constructor takes the name of themodule to be created and optionally itsdocstring.
See also
- Documentation on module objects
Provides details on the special attributes that can be found oninstances of
ModuleType
.importlib.util.module_from_spec()
Modules created using the
ModuleType
constructor arecreated with many of their special attributes unset or set to defaultvalues.module_from_spec()
provides a more robust way ofcreatingModuleType
instances which ensures the variousattributes are set appropriately.
- classtypes.GenericAlias(t_origin,t_args)¶
The type ofparameterized generics such as
list[int]
.t_origin
should be a non-parameterized generic class, such aslist
,tuple
ordict
.t_args
should be atuple
(possibly oflength 1) of types which parameterizet_origin
:>>>fromtypesimportGenericAlias>>>list[int]==GenericAlias(list,(int,))True>>>dict[str,int]==GenericAlias(dict,(str,int))True
Added in version 3.9.
Changed in version 3.9.2:This type can now be subclassed.
See also
- Generic Alias Types
In-depth documentation on instances of
types.GenericAlias
- PEP 585 - Type Hinting Generics In Standard Collections
Introducing the
types.GenericAlias
class
- classtypes.UnionType¶
The type ofunion type expressions.
Added in version 3.10.
- classtypes.TracebackType(tb_next,tb_frame,tb_lasti,tb_lineno)¶
The type of traceback objects such as found in
sys.exception().__traceback__
.Seethe language reference for details of theavailable attributes and operations, and guidance on creating tracebacksdynamically.
- types.FrameType¶
The type offrame objects such as found in
tb.tb_frame
iftb
is a traceback object.
- types.GetSetDescriptorType¶
The type of objects defined in extension modules with
PyGetSetDef
, suchasFrameType.f_locals
orarray.array.typecode
.This type is used asdescriptor for object attributes; it has the same purpose as theproperty
type, but for classes defined in extension modules.
- types.MemberDescriptorType¶
The type of objects defined in extension modules with
PyMemberDef
, suchasdatetime.timedelta.days
. This type is used as descriptor for simple Cdata members which use standard conversion functions; it has the same purposeas theproperty
type, but for classes defined in extension modules.In addition, when a class is defined with a
__slots__
attribute, then foreach slot, an instance ofMemberDescriptorType
will be added as an attributeon the class. This allows the slot to appear in the class’s__dict__
.CPython implementation detail: In other implementations of Python, this type may be identical to
GetSetDescriptorType
.
- classtypes.MappingProxyType(mapping)¶
Read-only proxy of a mapping. It provides a dynamic view on the mapping’sentries, which means that when the mapping changes, the view reflects thesechanges.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.9:Updated to support the new union (
|
) operator fromPEP 584, whichsimply delegates to the underlying mapping.- keyinproxy
Return
True
if the underlying mapping has a keykey, elseFalse
.
- proxy[key]
Return the item of the underlying mapping with keykey. Raises a
KeyError
ifkey is not in the underlying mapping.
- iter(proxy)
Return an iterator over the keys of the underlying mapping. This is ashortcut for
iter(proxy.keys())
.
- len(proxy)
Return the number of items in the underlying mapping.
- copy()¶
Return a shallow copy of the underlying mapping.
- get(key[,default])¶
Return the value forkey ifkey is in the underlying mapping, elsedefault. Ifdefault is not given, it defaults to
None
, so thatthis method never raises aKeyError
.
- items()¶
Return a new view of the underlying mapping’s items (
(key,value)
pairs).
- keys()¶
Return a new view of the underlying mapping’s keys.
- values()¶
Return a new view of the underlying mapping’s values.
- reversed(proxy)
Return a reverse iterator over the keys of the underlying mapping.
Added in version 3.9.
- hash(proxy)
Return a hash of the underlying mapping.
Added in version 3.12.
- classtypes.CapsuleType¶
The type ofcapsule objects.
Added in version 3.13.
Additional Utility Classes and Functions¶
- classtypes.SimpleNamespace¶
A simple
object
subclass that provides attribute access to itsnamespace, as well as a meaningful repr.Unlike
object
, withSimpleNamespace
you can add and removeattributes.SimpleNamespace
objects may be initializedin the same way asdict
: either with keyword arguments,with a single positional argument, or with both.When initialized with keyword arguments,those are directly added to the underlying namespace.Alternatively, when initialized with a positional argument,the underlying namespace will be updated with key-value pairsfrom that argument (either a mapping object oraniterable object producing key-value pairs).All such keys must be strings.The type is roughly equivalent to the following code:
classSimpleNamespace:def__init__(self,mapping_or_iterable=(),/,**kwargs):self.__dict__.update(mapping_or_iterable)self.__dict__.update(kwargs)def__repr__(self):items=(f"{k}={v!r}"fork,vinself.__dict__.items())return"{}({})".format(type(self).__name__,", ".join(items))def__eq__(self,other):ifisinstance(self,SimpleNamespace)andisinstance(other,SimpleNamespace):returnself.__dict__==other.__dict__returnNotImplemented
SimpleNamespace
may be useful as a replacement forclassNS:pass
.However, for a structured record type usenamedtuple()
instead.SimpleNamespace
objects are supported bycopy.replace()
.Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.9:Attribute order in the repr changed from alphabetical to insertion (like
dict
).Changed in version 3.13:Added support for an optional positional argument.
- types.DynamicClassAttribute(fget=None,fset=None,fdel=None,doc=None)¶
Route attribute access on a class to __getattr__.
This is a descriptor, used to define attributes that act differently whenaccessed through an instance and through a class. Instance access remainsnormal, but access to an attribute through a class will be routed to theclass’s __getattr__ method; this is done by raising AttributeError.
This allows one to have properties active on an instance, and have virtualattributes on the class with the same name (see
enum.Enum
for an example).Added in version 3.4.
Coroutine Utility Functions¶
- types.coroutine(gen_func)¶
This function transforms agenerator function into acoroutine function which returns a generator-based coroutine.The generator-based coroutine is still agenerator iterator,but is also considered to be acoroutine object and isawaitable. However, it may not necessarily implementthe
__await__()
method.Ifgen_func is a generator function, it will be modified in-place.
Ifgen_func is not a generator function, it will be wrapped. If itreturns an instance of
collections.abc.Generator
, the instancewill be wrapped in anawaitable proxy object. All other typesof objects will be returned as is.Added in version 3.5.