What is the Python equivalent of static variables inside a function?

Question

What is the idiomatic Python equivalent of this C/C++ code?

void foo()
{
    static int counter = 0;
    counter++;
          


        

Answer 1

You can add attributes to a function, and use it as a static variable.

def myfunc():
  myfunc.counter += 1
  print myfunc.counter

# attribute must be initialized
myfunc.counter = 0

Alternatively, if you don't want to setup the variable outside the function, you can use hasattr() to avoid an AttributeError exception:

def myfunc():
  if not hasattr(myfunc, "counter"):
     myfunc.counter = 0  # it doesn't exist yet, so initialize it
  myfunc.counter += 1

Anyway static variables are rather rare, and you should find a better place for this variable, most likely inside a class.

Answer 2

Other solutions attach a counter attribute to the function, usually with convoluted logic to handle the initialization. This is inappropriate for new code.

In Python 3, the right way is to use a nonlocal statement:

counter = 0
def foo():
    nonlocal counter
    counter += 1
    print(f'counter is {counter}')

See PEP 3104 for the specification of the nonlocal statement.

If the counter is intended to be private to the module, it should be named _counter instead.

Answer 3

Instead of creating a function having a static local variable, you can always create what is called a "function object" and give it a standard (non-static) member variable.

Since you gave an example written C++, I will first explain what a "function object" is in C++. A "function object" is simply any class with an overloaded operator(). Instances of the class will behave like functions. For example, you can write int x = square(5); even if square is an object (with overloaded operator()) and not technically not a "function." You can give a function-object any of the features that you could give a class object.

# C++ function object
class Foo_class {
    private:
        int counter;     
    public:
        Foo_class() {
             counter = 0;
        }
        void operator() () {  
            counter++;
            printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
        }     
   };
   Foo_class foo;

In Python, we can also overload operator() except that the method is instead named __call__:

Here is a class definition:

class Foo_class:
    def __init__(self): # __init__ is similair to a C++ class constructor
        self.counter = 0
        # self.counter is like a static member
        # variable of a function named "foo"
    def __call__(self): # overload operator()
        self.counter += 1
        print("counter is %d" % self.counter);
foo = Foo_class() # call the constructor

Here is an example of the class being used:

from foo import foo

for i in range(0, 5):
    foo() # function call

The output printed to the console is:

counter is 1
counter is 2
counter is 3
counter is 4
counter is 5

If you want your function to take input arguments, you can add those to __call__ as well:

# FILE: foo.py - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

class Foo_class:
    def __init__(self):
        self.counter = 0
    def __call__(self, x, y, z): # overload operator()
        self.counter += 1
        print("counter is %d" % self.counter);
        print("x, y, z, are %d, %d, %d" % (x, y, z));
foo = Foo_class() # call the constructor

# FILE: main.py - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

from foo import foo

for i in range(0, 5):
    foo(7, 8, 9) # function call

# Console Output - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

counter is 1
x, y, z, are 7, 8, 9
counter is 2
x, y, z, are 7, 8, 9
counter is 3
x, y, z, are 7, 8, 9
counter is 4
x, y, z, are 7, 8, 9
counter is 5
x, y, z, are 7, 8, 9

Answer 4

Prompted by this question, may I present another alternative which might be a bit nicer to use and will look the same for both methods and functions:

@static_var2('seed',0)
def funccounter(statics, add=1):
    statics.seed += add
    return statics.seed

print funccounter()       #1
print funccounter(add=2)  #3
print funccounter()       #4

class ACircle(object):
    @static_var2('seed',0)
    def counter(statics, self, add=1):
        statics.seed += add
        return statics.seed

c = ACircle()
print c.counter()      #1
print c.counter(add=2) #3
print c.counter()      #4
d = ACircle()
print d.counter()      #5
print d.counter(add=2) #7
print d.counter()      #8    

If you like the usage, here's the implementation:

class StaticMan(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.__dict__['_d'] = {}

    def __getattr__(self, name):
        return self.__dict__['_d'][name]
    def __getitem__(self, name):
        return self.__dict__['_d'][name]
    def __setattr__(self, name, val):
        self.__dict__['_d'][name] = val
    def __setitem__(self, name, val):
        self.__dict__['_d'][name] = val

def static_var2(name, val):
    def decorator(original):
        if not hasattr(original, ':staticman'):    
            def wrapped(*args, **kwargs):
                return original(getattr(wrapped, ':staticman'), *args, **kwargs)
            setattr(wrapped, ':staticman', StaticMan())
            f = wrapped
        else:
            f = original #already wrapped

        getattr(f, ':staticman')[name] = val
        return f
    return decorator

Answer 5

Other answers have demonstrated the way you should do this. Here's a way you shouldn't:

>>> def foo(counter=[0]):
...   counter[0] += 1
...   print("Counter is %i." % counter[0]);
... 
>>> foo()
Counter is 1.
>>> foo()
Counter is 2.
>>> 

Default values are initialized only when the function is first evaluated, not each time it is executed, so you can use a list or any other mutable object to store static values.

Answer 6

Many people have already suggested testing 'hasattr', but there's a simpler answer:

def func():
    func.counter = getattr(func, 'counter', 0) + 1

No try/except, no testing hasattr, just getattr with a default.