How to print instances of a class using print()?

Question

I am learning the ropes in Python. When I try to print an object of class Foobar using the print() function, I ge

Answer 1

If you're in a situation like @Keith you could try:

print(a.__dict__)

It goes against what I would consider good style but if you're just trying to debug then it should do what you want.

Answer 2

A generic way that can be applied to any class without specific formatting could be done as follows:

class Element:
    def __init__(self, name, symbol, number):
        self.name = name
        self.symbol = symbol
        self.number = number

    def __str__(self):
        return str(self.__class__) + ": " + str(self.__dict__)

And then,

elem = Element('my_name', 'some_symbol', 3)
print(elem)

produces

__main__.Element: {'symbol': 'some_symbol', 'name': 'my_name', 'number': 3}

Answer 3

You need to use __repr__. This is a standard function like __init__. For example:

class Foobar():
    """This will create Foobar type object."""

    def __init__(self):
        print "Foobar object is created."

    def __repr__(self):
        return "Type what do you want to see here."

a = Foobar()

print a

Answer 4

For Python 3:

If the specific format isn't important (e.g. for debugging) just inherit from the Printable class below. No need to write code for every object.

Inspired by this answer

class Printable:
    def __repr__(self):
        from pprint import pformat
        return "<" + type(self).__name__ + "> " + pformat(vars(self), indent=4, width=1)

# Example Usage
class MyClass(Printable):
    pass

my_obj = MyClass()
my_obj.msg = "Hello"
my_obj.number = "46"
print(my_obj)

Answer 5

>>> class Test:
...     def __repr__(self):
...         return "Test()"
...     def __str__(self):
...         return "member of Test"
... 
>>> t = Test()
>>> t
Test()
>>> print(t)
member of Test

The __str__ method is what happens when you print it, and the __repr__ method is what happens when you use the repr() function (or when you look at it with the interactive prompt). If this isn't the most Pythonic method, I apologize, because I'm still learning too - but it works.

If no __str__ method is given, Python will print the result of __repr__ instead. If you define __str__ but not __repr__, Python will use what you see above as the __repr__, but still use __str__ for printing.

Answer 6

Just to add my two cents to @dbr's answer, following is an example of how to implement this sentence from the official documentation he's cited:

"[...] to return a string that would yield an object with the same value when passed to eval(), [...]"

Given this class definition:

class Test(object):
    def __init__(self, a, b):
        self._a = a
        self._b = b

    def __str__(self):
        return "An instance of class Test with state: a=%s b=%s" % (self._a, self._b)

    def __repr__(self):
        return 'Test("%s","%s")' % (self._a, self._b)

Now, is easy to serialize instance of Test class:

x = Test('hello', 'world')
print 'Human readable: ', str(x)
print 'Object representation: ', repr(x)
print

y = eval(repr(x))
print 'Human readable: ', str(y)
print 'Object representation: ', repr(y)
print

So, running last piece of code, we'll get:

Human readable:  An instance of class Test with state: a=hello b=world
Object representation:  Test("hello","world")

Human readable:  An instance of class Test with state: a=hello b=world
Object representation:  Test("hello","world")

But, as I said in my last comment: more info is just here!