Python - Static Methods

What is Python Static Method?

In Python, astatic method is a type of method that does not require any instance to be called. It is very similar to the class method but the difference is that the static method doesn't have a mandatory argument like reference to the object− self or reference to the class− cls.

Static methods are used to access static fields of a given class. They cannot modify the state of a class since they are bound to the class, not instance.

How to Create Static Method in Python?

There are two ways to create Python static methods −

• Using staticmethod() Function
• Using @staticmethod Decorator

Using staticmethod() Function

Python's standard library function named staticmethod() is used to create a static method. It accepts a method as an argument and converts it into a static method.

Syntax

staticmethod(method)

Example

In the Employee class below, the showcount() method is converted into a static method. This static method can now be called by its object or reference of class itself.

class Employee:   empCount = 0   def __init__(self, name, age):      self.__name = name      self.__age = age      Employee.empCount += 1      # creating staticmethod   def showcount():      print (Employee.empCount)      return   counter = staticmethod(showcount)e1 = Employee("Bhavana", 24)e2 = Employee("Rajesh", 26)e3 = Employee("John", 27)e1.counter()Employee.counter()

Executing the above code will print the following result −

33

Using @staticmethod Decorator

The second way to create a static method is by using the Python @staticmethod decorator. When we use this decorator with a method it indicates to the Interpreter that the specified method is static.

Syntax

@staticmethoddef method_name():   # your code

Example

In the following example, we are creating a static method using the @staticmethod decorator.

class Student:   stdCount = 0   def __init__(self, name, age):      self.__name = name      self.__age = age      Student.stdCount += 1      # creating staticmethod   @staticmethod   def showcount():      print (Student.stdCount)e1 = Student("Bhavana", 24)e2 = Student("Rajesh", 26)e3 = Student("John", 27)print("Number of Students:")Student.showcount()

Running the above code will print the following result −

Number of Students:3

Advantages of Static Method

There are several advantages of using static method, which includes −

• Since a static method cannot access class attributes, it can be used as a utility function to perform frequently re-used tasks.
• We can invoke this method using the class name. Hence, it eliminates the dependency on the instances.
• A static method is always predictable as its behavior remain unchanged regardless of the class state.
• We can declare a method as a static method to prevent overriding.