759 lines
23 KiB
ReStructuredText
759 lines
23 KiB
ReStructuredText
:mod:`enum` --- Support for enumerations
|
|
========================================
|
|
|
|
.. module:: enum
|
|
:synopsis: Implementation of an enumeration class.
|
|
|
|
.. :moduleauthor:: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us>
|
|
.. :sectionauthor:: Barry Warsaw <barry@python.org>,
|
|
.. :sectionauthor:: Eli Bendersky <eliben@gmail.com>,
|
|
.. :sectionauthor:: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us>
|
|
|
|
.. versionadded:: 3.4
|
|
|
|
**Source code:** :source:`Lib/enum.py`
|
|
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
An enumeration is a set of symbolic names (members) bound to unique,
|
|
constant values. Within an enumeration, the members can be compared
|
|
by identity, and the enumeration itself can be iterated over.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Module Contents
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
This module defines two enumeration classes that can be used to define unique
|
|
sets of names and values: :class:`Enum` and :class:`IntEnum`. It also defines
|
|
one decorator, :func:`unique`.
|
|
|
|
.. class:: Enum
|
|
|
|
Base class for creating enumerated constants. See section
|
|
`Functional API`_ for an alternate construction syntax.
|
|
|
|
.. class:: IntEnum
|
|
|
|
Base class for creating enumerated constants that are also
|
|
subclasses of :class:`int`.
|
|
|
|
.. function:: unique
|
|
|
|
Enum class decorator that ensures only one name is bound to any one value.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creating an Enum
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
Enumerations are created using the :keyword:`class` syntax, which makes them
|
|
easy to read and write. An alternative creation method is described in
|
|
`Functional API`_. To define an enumeration, subclass :class:`Enum` as
|
|
follows::
|
|
|
|
>>> from enum import Enum
|
|
>>> class Color(Enum):
|
|
... red = 1
|
|
... green = 2
|
|
... blue = 3
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
.. note:: Nomenclature
|
|
|
|
- The class :class:`Color` is an *enumeration* (or *enum*)
|
|
- The attributes :attr:`Color.red`, :attr:`Color.green`, etc., are
|
|
*enumeration members* (or *enum members*).
|
|
- The enum members have *names* and *values* (the name of
|
|
:attr:`Color.red` is ``red``, the value of :attr:`Color.blue` is
|
|
``3``, etc.)
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
Even though we use the :keyword:`class` syntax to create Enums, Enums
|
|
are not normal Python classes. See `How are Enums different?`_ for
|
|
more details.
|
|
|
|
Enumeration members have human readable string representations::
|
|
|
|
>>> print(Color.red)
|
|
Color.red
|
|
|
|
...while their ``repr`` has more information::
|
|
|
|
>>> print(repr(Color.red))
|
|
<Color.red: 1>
|
|
|
|
The *type* of an enumeration member is the enumeration it belongs to::
|
|
|
|
>>> type(Color.red)
|
|
<enum 'Color'>
|
|
>>> isinstance(Color.green, Color)
|
|
True
|
|
>>>
|
|
|
|
Enum members also have a property that contains just their item name::
|
|
|
|
>>> print(Color.red.name)
|
|
red
|
|
|
|
Enumerations support iteration, in definition order::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Shake(Enum):
|
|
... vanilla = 7
|
|
... chocolate = 4
|
|
... cookies = 9
|
|
... mint = 3
|
|
...
|
|
>>> for shake in Shake:
|
|
... print(shake)
|
|
...
|
|
Shake.vanilla
|
|
Shake.chocolate
|
|
Shake.cookies
|
|
Shake.mint
|
|
|
|
Enumeration members are hashable, so they can be used in dictionaries and sets::
|
|
|
|
>>> apples = {}
|
|
>>> apples[Color.red] = 'red delicious'
|
|
>>> apples[Color.green] = 'granny smith'
|
|
>>> apples == {Color.red: 'red delicious', Color.green: 'granny smith'}
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
|
|
Programmatic access to enumeration members and their attributes
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Sometimes it's useful to access members in enumerations programmatically (i.e.
|
|
situations where ``Color.red`` won't do because the exact color is not known
|
|
at program-writing time). ``Enum`` allows such access::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color(1)
|
|
<Color.red: 1>
|
|
>>> Color(3)
|
|
<Color.blue: 3>
|
|
|
|
If you want to access enum members by *name*, use item access::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color['red']
|
|
<Color.red: 1>
|
|
>>> Color['green']
|
|
<Color.green: 2>
|
|
|
|
If you have an enum member and need its :attr:`name` or :attr:`value`::
|
|
|
|
>>> member = Color.red
|
|
>>> member.name
|
|
'red'
|
|
>>> member.value
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duplicating enum members and values
|
|
-----------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Having two enum members with the same name is invalid::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Shape(Enum):
|
|
... square = 2
|
|
... square = 3
|
|
...
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
...
|
|
TypeError: Attempted to reuse key: 'square'
|
|
|
|
However, two enum members are allowed to have the same value. Given two members
|
|
A and B with the same value (and A defined first), B is an alias to A. By-value
|
|
lookup of the value of A and B will return A. By-name lookup of B will also
|
|
return A::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Shape(Enum):
|
|
... square = 2
|
|
... diamond = 1
|
|
... circle = 3
|
|
... alias_for_square = 2
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Shape.square
|
|
<Shape.square: 2>
|
|
>>> Shape.alias_for_square
|
|
<Shape.square: 2>
|
|
>>> Shape(2)
|
|
<Shape.square: 2>
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
Attempting to create a member with the same name as an already
|
|
defined attribute (another member, a method, etc.) or attempting to create
|
|
an attribute with the same name as a member is not allowed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ensuring unique enumeration values
|
|
----------------------------------
|
|
|
|
By default, enumerations allow multiple names as aliases for the same value.
|
|
When this behavior isn't desired, the following decorator can be used to
|
|
ensure each value is used only once in the enumeration:
|
|
|
|
.. decorator:: unique
|
|
|
|
A :keyword:`class` decorator specifically for enumerations. It searches an
|
|
enumeration's :attr:`__members__` gathering any aliases it finds; if any are
|
|
found :exc:`ValueError` is raised with the details::
|
|
|
|
>>> from enum import Enum, unique
|
|
>>> @unique
|
|
... class Mistake(Enum):
|
|
... one = 1
|
|
... two = 2
|
|
... three = 3
|
|
... four = 3
|
|
...
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
...
|
|
ValueError: duplicate values found in <enum 'Mistake'>: four -> three
|
|
|
|
|
|
Iteration
|
|
---------
|
|
|
|
Iterating over the members of an enum does not provide the aliases::
|
|
|
|
>>> list(Shape)
|
|
[<Shape.square: 2>, <Shape.diamond: 1>, <Shape.circle: 3>]
|
|
|
|
The special attribute ``__members__`` is an ordered dictionary mapping names
|
|
to members. It includes all names defined in the enumeration, including the
|
|
aliases::
|
|
|
|
>>> for name, member in Shape.__members__.items():
|
|
... name, member
|
|
...
|
|
('square', <Shape.square: 2>)
|
|
('diamond', <Shape.diamond: 1>)
|
|
('circle', <Shape.circle: 3>)
|
|
('alias_for_square', <Shape.square: 2>)
|
|
|
|
The ``__members__`` attribute can be used for detailed programmatic access to
|
|
the enumeration members. For example, finding all the aliases::
|
|
|
|
>>> [name for name, member in Shape.__members__.items() if member.name != name]
|
|
['alias_for_square']
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comparisons
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
Enumeration members are compared by identity::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color.red is Color.red
|
|
True
|
|
>>> Color.red is Color.blue
|
|
False
|
|
>>> Color.red is not Color.blue
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
Ordered comparisons between enumeration values are *not* supported. Enum
|
|
members are not integers (but see `IntEnum`_ below)::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color.red < Color.blue
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
|
|
TypeError: unorderable types: Color() < Color()
|
|
|
|
Equality comparisons are defined though::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color.blue == Color.red
|
|
False
|
|
>>> Color.blue != Color.red
|
|
True
|
|
>>> Color.blue == Color.blue
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
Comparisons against non-enumeration values will always compare not equal
|
|
(again, :class:`IntEnum` was explicitly designed to behave differently, see
|
|
below)::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color.blue == 2
|
|
False
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allowed members and attributes of enumerations
|
|
----------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
The examples above use integers for enumeration values. Using integers is
|
|
short and handy (and provided by default by the `Functional API`_), but not
|
|
strictly enforced. In the vast majority of use-cases, one doesn't care what
|
|
the actual value of an enumeration is. But if the value *is* important,
|
|
enumerations can have arbitrary values.
|
|
|
|
Enumerations are Python classes, and can have methods and special methods as
|
|
usual. If we have this enumeration::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Mood(Enum):
|
|
... funky = 1
|
|
... happy = 3
|
|
...
|
|
... def describe(self):
|
|
... # self is the member here
|
|
... return self.name, self.value
|
|
...
|
|
... def __str__(self):
|
|
... return 'my custom str! {0}'.format(self.value)
|
|
...
|
|
... @classmethod
|
|
... def favorite_mood(cls):
|
|
... # cls here is the enumeration
|
|
... return cls.happy
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
Then::
|
|
|
|
>>> Mood.favorite_mood()
|
|
<Mood.happy: 3>
|
|
>>> Mood.happy.describe()
|
|
('happy', 3)
|
|
>>> str(Mood.funky)
|
|
'my custom str! 1'
|
|
|
|
The rules for what is allowed are as follows: _sunder_ names (starting and
|
|
ending with a single underscore) are reserved by enum and cannot be used;
|
|
all other attributes defined within an enumeration will become members of this
|
|
enumeration, with the exception of *__dunder__* names and descriptors (methods
|
|
are also descriptors).
|
|
|
|
Note: if your enumeration defines :meth:`__new__` and/or :meth:`__init__` then
|
|
whatever value(s) were given to the enum member will be passed into those
|
|
methods. See `Planet`_ for an example.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Restricted subclassing of enumerations
|
|
--------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Subclassing an enumeration is allowed only if the enumeration does not define
|
|
any members. So this is forbidden::
|
|
|
|
>>> class MoreColor(Color):
|
|
... pink = 17
|
|
...
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
...
|
|
TypeError: Cannot extend enumerations
|
|
|
|
But this is allowed::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Foo(Enum):
|
|
... def some_behavior(self):
|
|
... pass
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Bar(Foo):
|
|
... happy = 1
|
|
... sad = 2
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
Allowing subclassing of enums that define members would lead to a violation of
|
|
some important invariants of types and instances. On the other hand, it makes
|
|
sense to allow sharing some common behavior between a group of enumerations.
|
|
(See `OrderedEnum`_ for an example.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pickling
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
Enumerations can be pickled and unpickled::
|
|
|
|
>>> from test.test_enum import Fruit
|
|
>>> from pickle import dumps, loads
|
|
>>> Fruit.tomato is loads(dumps(Fruit.tomato))
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
The usual restrictions for pickling apply: picklable enums must be defined in
|
|
the top level of a module, since unpickling requires them to be importable
|
|
from that module.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
With pickle protocol version 4 it is possible to easily pickle enums
|
|
nested in other classes.
|
|
|
|
It is possible to modify how Enum members are pickled/unpickled by defining
|
|
:meth:`__reduce_ex__` in the enumeration class.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Functional API
|
|
--------------
|
|
|
|
The :class:`Enum` class is callable, providing the following functional API::
|
|
|
|
>>> Animal = Enum('Animal', 'ant bee cat dog')
|
|
>>> Animal
|
|
<enum 'Animal'>
|
|
>>> Animal.ant
|
|
<Animal.ant: 1>
|
|
>>> Animal.ant.value
|
|
1
|
|
>>> list(Animal)
|
|
[<Animal.ant: 1>, <Animal.bee: 2>, <Animal.cat: 3>, <Animal.dog: 4>]
|
|
|
|
The semantics of this API resemble :class:`~collections.namedtuple`. The first
|
|
argument of the call to :class:`Enum` is the name of the enumeration.
|
|
|
|
The second argument is the *source* of enumeration member names. It can be a
|
|
whitespace-separated string of names, a sequence of names, a sequence of
|
|
2-tuples with key/value pairs, or a mapping (e.g. dictionary) of names to
|
|
values. The last two options enable assigning arbitrary values to
|
|
enumerations; the others auto-assign increasing integers starting with 1 (use
|
|
the `start` parameter to specify a different starting value). A
|
|
new class derived from :class:`Enum` is returned. In other words, the above
|
|
assignment to :class:`Animal` is equivalent to::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Animals(Enum):
|
|
... ant = 1
|
|
... bee = 2
|
|
... cat = 3
|
|
... dog = 4
|
|
...
|
|
|
|
The reason for defaulting to ``1`` as the starting number and not ``0`` is
|
|
that ``0`` is ``False`` in a boolean sense, but enum members all evaluate
|
|
to ``True``.
|
|
|
|
Pickling enums created with the functional API can be tricky as frame stack
|
|
implementation details are used to try and figure out which module the
|
|
enumeration is being created in (e.g. it will fail if you use a utility
|
|
function in separate module, and also may not work on IronPython or Jython).
|
|
The solution is to specify the module name explicitly as follows::
|
|
|
|
>>> Animals = Enum('Animals', 'ant bee cat dog', module=__name__)
|
|
|
|
.. warning::
|
|
|
|
If ``module`` is not supplied, and Enum cannot determine what it is,
|
|
the new Enum members will not be unpicklable; to keep errors closer to
|
|
the source, pickling will be disabled.
|
|
|
|
The new pickle protocol 4 also, in some circumstances, relies on
|
|
:attr:`__qualname__` being set to the location where pickle will be able
|
|
to find the class. For example, if the class was made available in class
|
|
SomeData in the global scope::
|
|
|
|
>>> Animals = Enum('Animals', 'ant bee cat dog', qualname='SomeData.Animals')
|
|
|
|
The complete signature is::
|
|
|
|
Enum(value='NewEnumName', names=<...>, *, module='...', qualname='...', type=<mixed-in class>, start=1)
|
|
|
|
:value: What the new Enum class will record as its name.
|
|
|
|
:names: The Enum members. This can be a whitespace or comma separated string
|
|
(values will start at 1 unless otherwise specified)::
|
|
|
|
'red green blue' | 'red,green,blue' | 'red, green, blue'
|
|
|
|
or an iterator of (name, value) pairs::
|
|
|
|
[('cyan', 4), ('magenta', 5), ('yellow', 6)]
|
|
|
|
or a mapping::
|
|
|
|
{'chartreuse': 7, 'sea_green': 11, 'rosemary': 42}
|
|
|
|
:module: name of module where new Enum class can be found.
|
|
|
|
:qualname: where in module new Enum class can be found.
|
|
|
|
:type: type to mix in to new Enum class.
|
|
|
|
:start: number to start counting at if only names are passed in
|
|
|
|
.. versionchanged:: 3.5
|
|
The *start* parameter was added.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Derived Enumerations
|
|
--------------------
|
|
|
|
IntEnum
|
|
^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
A variation of :class:`Enum` is provided which is also a subclass of
|
|
:class:`int`. Members of an :class:`IntEnum` can be compared to integers;
|
|
by extension, integer enumerations of different types can also be compared
|
|
to each other::
|
|
|
|
>>> from enum import IntEnum
|
|
>>> class Shape(IntEnum):
|
|
... circle = 1
|
|
... square = 2
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Request(IntEnum):
|
|
... post = 1
|
|
... get = 2
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Shape == 1
|
|
False
|
|
>>> Shape.circle == 1
|
|
True
|
|
>>> Shape.circle == Request.post
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
However, they still can't be compared to standard :class:`Enum` enumerations::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Shape(IntEnum):
|
|
... circle = 1
|
|
... square = 2
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Color(Enum):
|
|
... red = 1
|
|
... green = 2
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Shape.circle == Color.red
|
|
False
|
|
|
|
:class:`IntEnum` values behave like integers in other ways you'd expect::
|
|
|
|
>>> int(Shape.circle)
|
|
1
|
|
>>> ['a', 'b', 'c'][Shape.circle]
|
|
'b'
|
|
>>> [i for i in range(Shape.square)]
|
|
[0, 1]
|
|
|
|
For the vast majority of code, :class:`Enum` is strongly recommended,
|
|
since :class:`IntEnum` breaks some semantic promises of an enumeration (by
|
|
being comparable to integers, and thus by transitivity to other
|
|
unrelated enumerations). It should be used only in special cases where
|
|
there's no other choice; for example, when integer constants are
|
|
replaced with enumerations and backwards compatibility is required with code
|
|
that still expects integers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Others
|
|
^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
While :class:`IntEnum` is part of the :mod:`enum` module, it would be very
|
|
simple to implement independently::
|
|
|
|
class IntEnum(int, Enum):
|
|
pass
|
|
|
|
This demonstrates how similar derived enumerations can be defined; for example
|
|
a :class:`StrEnum` that mixes in :class:`str` instead of :class:`int`.
|
|
|
|
Some rules:
|
|
|
|
1. When subclassing :class:`Enum`, mix-in types must appear before
|
|
:class:`Enum` itself in the sequence of bases, as in the :class:`IntEnum`
|
|
example above.
|
|
2. While :class:`Enum` can have members of any type, once you mix in an
|
|
additional type, all the members must have values of that type, e.g.
|
|
:class:`int` above. This restriction does not apply to mix-ins which only
|
|
add methods and don't specify another data type such as :class:`int` or
|
|
:class:`str`.
|
|
3. When another data type is mixed in, the :attr:`value` attribute is *not the
|
|
same* as the enum member itself, although it is equivalent and will compare
|
|
equal.
|
|
4. %-style formatting: `%s` and `%r` call :class:`Enum`'s :meth:`__str__` and
|
|
:meth:`__repr__` respectively; other codes (such as `%i` or `%h` for
|
|
IntEnum) treat the enum member as its mixed-in type.
|
|
5. :meth:`str.__format__` (or :func:`format`) will use the mixed-in
|
|
type's :meth:`__format__`. If the :class:`Enum`'s :func:`str` or
|
|
:func:`repr` is desired use the `!s` or `!r` :class:`str` format codes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting examples
|
|
--------------------
|
|
|
|
While :class:`Enum` and :class:`IntEnum` are expected to cover the majority of
|
|
use-cases, they cannot cover them all. Here are recipes for some different
|
|
types of enumerations that can be used directly, or as examples for creating
|
|
one's own.
|
|
|
|
|
|
AutoNumber
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
Avoids having to specify the value for each enumeration member::
|
|
|
|
>>> class AutoNumber(Enum):
|
|
... def __new__(cls):
|
|
... value = len(cls.__members__) + 1
|
|
... obj = object.__new__(cls)
|
|
... obj._value_ = value
|
|
... return obj
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Color(AutoNumber):
|
|
... red = ()
|
|
... green = ()
|
|
... blue = ()
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Color.green.value == 2
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
The :meth:`__new__` method, if defined, is used during creation of the Enum
|
|
members; it is then replaced by Enum's :meth:`__new__` which is used after
|
|
class creation for lookup of existing members.
|
|
|
|
|
|
OrderedEnum
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
An ordered enumeration that is not based on :class:`IntEnum` and so maintains
|
|
the normal :class:`Enum` invariants (such as not being comparable to other
|
|
enumerations)::
|
|
|
|
>>> class OrderedEnum(Enum):
|
|
... def __ge__(self, other):
|
|
... if self.__class__ is other.__class__:
|
|
... return self.value >= other.value
|
|
... return NotImplemented
|
|
... def __gt__(self, other):
|
|
... if self.__class__ is other.__class__:
|
|
... return self.value > other.value
|
|
... return NotImplemented
|
|
... def __le__(self, other):
|
|
... if self.__class__ is other.__class__:
|
|
... return self.value <= other.value
|
|
... return NotImplemented
|
|
... def __lt__(self, other):
|
|
... if self.__class__ is other.__class__:
|
|
... return self.value < other.value
|
|
... return NotImplemented
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Grade(OrderedEnum):
|
|
... A = 5
|
|
... B = 4
|
|
... C = 3
|
|
... D = 2
|
|
... F = 1
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Grade.C < Grade.A
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
|
|
DuplicateFreeEnum
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
Raises an error if a duplicate member name is found instead of creating an
|
|
alias::
|
|
|
|
>>> class DuplicateFreeEnum(Enum):
|
|
... def __init__(self, *args):
|
|
... cls = self.__class__
|
|
... if any(self.value == e.value for e in cls):
|
|
... a = self.name
|
|
... e = cls(self.value).name
|
|
... raise ValueError(
|
|
... "aliases not allowed in DuplicateFreeEnum: %r --> %r"
|
|
... % (a, e))
|
|
...
|
|
>>> class Color(DuplicateFreeEnum):
|
|
... red = 1
|
|
... green = 2
|
|
... blue = 3
|
|
... grene = 2
|
|
...
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
...
|
|
ValueError: aliases not allowed in DuplicateFreeEnum: 'grene' --> 'green'
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
This is a useful example for subclassing Enum to add or change other
|
|
behaviors as well as disallowing aliases. If the only desired change is
|
|
disallowing aliases, the :func:`unique` decorator can be used instead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Planet
|
|
^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
If :meth:`__new__` or :meth:`__init__` is defined the value of the enum member
|
|
will be passed to those methods::
|
|
|
|
>>> class Planet(Enum):
|
|
... MERCURY = (3.303e+23, 2.4397e6)
|
|
... VENUS = (4.869e+24, 6.0518e6)
|
|
... EARTH = (5.976e+24, 6.37814e6)
|
|
... MARS = (6.421e+23, 3.3972e6)
|
|
... JUPITER = (1.9e+27, 7.1492e7)
|
|
... SATURN = (5.688e+26, 6.0268e7)
|
|
... URANUS = (8.686e+25, 2.5559e7)
|
|
... NEPTUNE = (1.024e+26, 2.4746e7)
|
|
... def __init__(self, mass, radius):
|
|
... self.mass = mass # in kilograms
|
|
... self.radius = radius # in meters
|
|
... @property
|
|
... def surface_gravity(self):
|
|
... # universal gravitational constant (m3 kg-1 s-2)
|
|
... G = 6.67300E-11
|
|
... return G * self.mass / (self.radius * self.radius)
|
|
...
|
|
>>> Planet.EARTH.value
|
|
(5.976e+24, 6378140.0)
|
|
>>> Planet.EARTH.surface_gravity
|
|
9.802652743337129
|
|
|
|
|
|
How are Enums different?
|
|
------------------------
|
|
|
|
Enums have a custom metaclass that affects many aspects of both derived Enum
|
|
classes and their instances (members).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enum Classes
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The :class:`EnumMeta` metaclass is responsible for providing the
|
|
:meth:`__contains__`, :meth:`__dir__`, :meth:`__iter__` and other methods that
|
|
allow one to do things with an :class:`Enum` class that fail on a typical
|
|
class, such as `list(Color)` or `some_var in Color`. :class:`EnumMeta` is
|
|
responsible for ensuring that various other methods on the final :class:`Enum`
|
|
class are correct (such as :meth:`__new__`, :meth:`__getnewargs__`,
|
|
:meth:`__str__` and :meth:`__repr__`)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enum Members (aka instances)
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The most interesting thing about Enum members is that they are singletons.
|
|
:class:`EnumMeta` creates them all while it is creating the :class:`Enum`
|
|
class itself, and then puts a custom :meth:`__new__` in place to ensure
|
|
that no new ones are ever instantiated by returning only the existing
|
|
member instances.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finer Points
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
Enum members are instances of an Enum class, and even though they are
|
|
accessible as `EnumClass.member`, they are not accessible directly from
|
|
the member::
|
|
|
|
>>> Color.red
|
|
<Color.red: 1>
|
|
>>> Color.red.blue
|
|
Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
...
|
|
AttributeError: 'Color' object has no attribute 'blue'
|
|
|
|
Likewise, the :attr:`__members__` is only available on the class.
|
|
|
|
If you give your :class:`Enum` subclass extra methods, like the `Planet`_
|
|
class above, those methods will show up in a :func:`dir` of the member,
|
|
but not of the class::
|
|
|
|
>>> dir(Planet)
|
|
['EARTH', 'JUPITER', 'MARS', 'MERCURY', 'NEPTUNE', 'SATURN', 'URANUS', 'VENUS', '__class__', '__doc__', '__members__', '__module__']
|
|
>>> dir(Planet.EARTH)
|
|
['__class__', '__doc__', '__module__', 'name', 'surface_gravity', 'value']
|
|
|
|
The :meth:`__new__` method will only be used for the creation of the
|
|
:class:`Enum` members -- after that it is replaced. Any custom :meth:`__new__`
|
|
method must create the object and set the :attr:`_value_` attribute
|
|
appropriately.
|
|
|
|
If you wish to change how :class:`Enum` members are looked up you should either
|
|
write a helper function or a :func:`classmethod` for the :class:`Enum`
|
|
subclass.
|