Python Class Functions

The Python interpreter has a number of functions and types built into it that are always available.

Build-In Types

Numeric Types

class int([x]), class int(x, base=10)

Return an integer object constructed from a number or string x, or return 0 if no arguments are given. If x defines __int__(), int(x) returns x.__int__(). If x defines __index__(), it returns x.__index__(). If x defines __trunc__(), it returns x.__trunc__(). For floating point numbers, this truncates towards zero. If x is not a number or if base is given, then x must be a string, bytes, or bytearray instance representing an integer literal in radix base. Optionally, the literal can be preceded by + or - (with no space in between) and surrounded by whitespace. A base-n literal consists of the digits 0 to n-1, with a to z (or A to Z) having values 10 to 35. The default base is 10. The allowed values are 0 and 2–36. Base-2, -8, and -16 literals can be optionally prefixed with 0b/0B, 0o/0O, or 0x/0X, as with integer literals in code. Base 0 means to interpret exactly as a code literal, so that the actual base is 2, 8, 10, or 16, and so that int('010', 0) is not legal, while int('010') is, as well as int('010', 8). The integer type is described in Numeric Types — int, float, complex.

class float([x])

Return a floating point number constructed from a number or string x. If the argument is a string, it should contain a decimal number, optionally preceded by a sign, and optionally embedded in whitespace. The optional sign may be '+' or '-'; a '+' sign has no effect on the value produced. The argument may also be a string representing a NaN (not-a-number), or a positive or negative infinity. More precisely, the input must conform to the following grammar after leading and trailing whitespace characters are removed: sign ::= "+" | "-" infinity ::= "Infinity" | "inf" nan ::= "nan" numeric_value ::= floatnumber | infinity | nan numeric_string ::= [sign] numeric_value Here floatnumber is the form of a Python floating-point literal, described in Floating point literals. Case is not significant, so, for example, “inf”, “Inf”, “INFINITY” and “iNfINity” are all acceptable spellings for positive infinity. Otherwise, if the argument is an integer or a floating point number, a floating point number with the same value (within Python’s floating point precision) is returned. If the argument is outside the range of a Python float, an OverflowError will be raised. For a general Python object x, float(x) delegates to x.__float__(). If __float__() is not defined then it falls back to __index__(). If no argument is given, 0.0 is returned. Examples: >>> >>> float('+1.23') 1.23 >>> float(' -12345\n') -12345.0 >>> float('1e-003') 0.001 >>> float('+1E6') 1000000.0 >>> float('-Infinity') -inf

class complex([real[, imag]])

Return a complex number with the value real + imag*1j or convert a string or number to a complex number. If the first parameter is a string, it will be interpreted as a complex number and the function must be called without a second parameter. The second parameter can never be a string. Each argument may be any numeric type (including complex). If imag is omitted, it defaults to zero and the constructor serves as a numeric conversion like int and float. If both arguments are omitted, returns 0j. For a general Python object x, complex(x) delegates to x.__complex__(). If __complex__() is not defined then it falls back to __float__(). If __float__() is not defined then it falls back to __index__(). Note When converting from a string, the string must not contain whitespace around the central + or - operator. For example, complex('1+2j') is fine, but complex('1 + 2j') raises ValueError. The complex type is described in Numeric Types — int, float, complex. Changed in version 3.6: Grouping digits with underscores as in code literals is allowed.

class bool([x])

Return a Boolean value, i.e. one of True or False. x is converted using the standard truth testing procedure. If x is false or omitted, this returns False; otherwise it returns True. The bool class is a subclass of int. It cannot be subclassed further. Its only instances are False and True.

Sequence Types

class list([iterable])

Rather than being a function, list is actually a mutable sequence type, as documented in Lists and Sequence Types — list, tuple, range.

class tuple([iterable])

Rather than being a function, tuple is actually an immutable sequence type, as documented in Tuples and Sequence Types — list, tuple, range.

class range(stop), class range(start, stop[, step])

Rather than being a function, range is actually an immutable sequence type, as documented in Ranges and Sequence Types — list, tuple, range.

class str(object=''), class str(object=b'', encoding='utf-8',
errors='strict')

Return a str version of object. See str() for details.

class bytearray([source[, encoding[, errors]]])

Return a new array of bytes. The bytearray class is a mutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256. It has most of the usual methods of mutable sequences, described in Mutable Sequence Types, as well as most methods that the bytes type has, see Bytes and Bytearray Operations. The optional source parameter can be used to initialize the array in a few different ways: If it is a string, you must also give the encoding (and optionally, errors) parameters; bytearray() then converts the string to bytes using str.encode(). If it is an integer, the array will have that size and will be initialized with null bytes. If it is an object conforming to the buffer interface, a read-only buffer of the object will be used to initialize the bytes array. If it is an iterable, it must be an iterable of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256, which are used as the initial contents of the array. Without an argument, an array of size 0 is created.

class bytes([source[, encoding[, errors]]])

Return a new “bytes” object, which is an immutable sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256. bytes is an immutable version of bytearray – it has the same non-mutating methods and the same indexing and slicing behavior. Accordingly, constructor arguments are interpreted as for bytearray(). Bytes objects can also be created with literals, see String and Bytes literals.

class memoryview(obj)

Return a “memory view” object created from the given argument.

Set Types

class set([iterable])

Return a new set object, optionally with elements taken from iterable. set is a built-in class. See set and Set Types — set, frozenset for documentation about this class.

class frozenset([iterable])

Return a new frozenset object, optionally with elements taken from iterable. frozenset is a built-in class. See frozenset and Set Types — set, frozenset for documentation about this class.

Mapping Types

class dict(kwarg), class dict(mapping, kwarg),
class dict(iterable, **kwarg)

Create a new dictionary. The dict object is the dictionary class. See dict and Mapping Types — dict for documentation about this class. For other containers see the built-in list, set, and tuple classes, as well as the collections module.

Other Built-in Types

class object

Return a new featureless object. object is a base for all classes. It has the methods that are common to all instances of Python classes. This function does not accept any arguments. Note object does not have a __dict__, so you can’t assign arbitrary attributes to an instance of the object class.

class property(fget=None, fset=None, fdel=None, doc=None)

Return a property attribute. fget is a function for getting an attribute value. fset is a function for setting an attribute value. fdel is a function for deleting an attribute value. And doc creates a docstring for the attribute. A typical use is to define a managed attribute x: class C: def __init__(self): self._x = None def getx(self): return self._x def setx(self, value): self._x = value def delx(self): del self._x x = property(getx, setx, delx, "I'm the 'x' property.") If c is an instance of C, c.x will invoke the getter, c.x = value will invoke the setter and del c.x the deleter. If given, doc will be the docstring of the property attribute. Otherwise, the property will copy fget’s docstring (if it exists). This makes it possible to create read-only properties easily using property() as a decorator: class Parrot: def __init__(self): self._voltage = 100000 @property def voltage(self): """Get the current voltage.""" return self._voltage The @property decorator turns the voltage() method into a “getter” for a read-only attribute with the same name, and it sets the docstring for voltage to “Get the current voltage.” A property object has getter, setter, and deleter methods usable as decorators that create a copy of the property with the corresponding accessor function set to the decorated function. This is best explained with an example: class C: def __init__(self): self._x = None @property def x(self): """I'm the 'x' property.""" return self._x @x.setter def x(self, value): self._x = value @x.deleter def x(self): del self._x This code is exactly equivalent to the first example. Be sure to give the additional functions the same name as the original property (x in this case.) The returned property object also has the attributes fget, fset, and fdel corresponding to the constructor arguments.

class type(object),class type(name, bases, dict)

With one argument, return the type of an object. The return value is a type object and generally the same object as returned by object.__class__. The isinstance() built-in function is recommended for testing the type of an object, because it takes subclasses into account. With three arguments, return a new type object. This is essentially a dynamic form of the class statement. The name string is the class name and becomes the __name__ attribute. The bases tuple contains the base classes and becomes the __bases__ attribute; if empty, object, the ultimate base of all classes, is added. The dict dictionary contains attribute and method definitions for the class body; it may be copied or wrapped before becoming the __dict__ attribute. The following two statements create identical type objects: >>> >>> class X: ... a = 1 ... >>> X = type('X', (), dict(a=1))

class slice(stop), class slice(start, stop[, step])

Return a slice object representing the set of indices specified by range(start, stop, step). The start and step arguments default to None. Slice objects have read-only data attributes start, stop and step which merely return the argument values (or their default). They have no other explicit functionality; however they are used by Numerical Python and other third party extensions. Slice objects are also generated when extended indexing syntax is used. For example: a[start:stop:step] or a[start:stop, i].