How to invoke the super constructor in Python?

Question

class A:
    def __init__(self):
        print(\"world\")

class B(A):
    def __init__(self):
       print(\"hello\")

B()  # output: hello

In all

Answer 1

In line with the other answers, there are multiple ways to call super class methods (including the constructor), however in Python-3.x the process has been simplified:

Python-2.x

class A(object):
 def __init__(self):
   print "world"

class B(A):
 def __init__(self):
   print "hello"
   super(B, self).__init__()

Python-3.x

class A(object):
 def __init__(self):
   print("world")

class B(A):
 def __init__(self):
   print("hello")
   super().__init__()

super() is now equivalent to super(<containing classname>, self) as per the docs.

Answer 2

I use the following formula that extends previous answers:

class A(object):
 def __init__(self):
   print "world"

class B(A):
 def __init__(self):
   print "hello"
   super(self.__class__, self).__init__()

B()

This way you don't have to repeat the name of the class in the call to super. It can come handy if you are coding a large number of classes, and want to make your code in the initialiser methods independent of the class name.

Answer 3

With Python 2.x old-style classes it would be this:

class A: 
 def __init__(self): 
   print "world" 

class B(A): 
 def __init__(self): 
   print "hello" 
   A.__init__(self)

Answer 4

Short Answer

super(DerivedClass, self).__init__()

Long Answer

What does super() do?

It takes specified class name, finds its base classes (Python allows multiple inheritance) and looks for the method (__init__ in this case) in each of them from left to right. As soon as it finds method available, it will call it and end the search.

How do I call init of all base classes?

Above works if you have only one base class. But Python does allow multiple inheritance and you might want to make sure all base classes are initialized properly. To do that, you should have each base class call init:

class Base1:
  def __init__():
    super(Base1, self).__init__()

class Base2:
  def __init__():
    super(Base2, self).__init__()

class Derived(Base1, Base2):
  def __init__():
    super(Derived, self).__init__()

What if I forget to call init for super?

The constructor (__new__) gets invoked in a chain (like in C++ and Java). Once the instance is created, only that instance's initialiser (__init__) is called, without any implicit chain to its superclass.

Answer 5

Just to add an example with parameters:

class B(A):
    def __init__(self, x, y, z):
        A.__init__(self, x, y)

Given a derived class B that requires the variables x, y, z to be defined, and a superclass A that requires x, y to be defined, you can call the static method init of the superclass A with a reference to the current subclass instance (self) and then the list of expected arguments.

Answer 6

super() returns a parent-like object in new-style classes:

class A(object):
    def __init__(self):
        print("world")

class B(A):
    def __init__(self):
        print("hello")
        super(B, self).__init__()

B()