Convert string into a function call withing the same class

Question

How would I go about converting a string into a function call for a function that is within the same class? I used this question to help a bit but I think it has something to do with "self.".

ran_test_opt = choice(test_options)
ran_test_func = globals()[ran_test_opt]
ran_test_func()

where test_options is a list of the names of the functions available in string format. With the above code I get the error

KeyError: 'random_aoi'

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:41

3

Don't use globals() (the functions are not in the global symbol table), just use getattr:

ran_test_func = getattr(self, ran_test_opt)

answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:41

sloth

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:42

globals() is a function that you should use very, very rarely, it smells of mixing code and data. Calling an instance method by a name found in a string is similar, but slightly less hacky. Use getattr:

ran_test_func = getattr(self, ran_test_opt)
ran_test_func()

Convert string into a function call withing the same class

2 Answers2