How is operator.eq implemented in python?

Question

When we print operator.eq.__name__ we get the output 'eq'. This implies that operator.eq is a class. But we can use it as a function as well. operator.eq("test", "test") returns True. How is operator.eq implemented? Is it a class or a function?

Answer 1

operator.eq is a function of the operator module. All functions have a __name__ attribute, as do most classes.

eq is pretty simple, take a look at the source:

def eq(a, b):
    "Same as a == b."
    return a == b

You can demonstrate this in CLI with the following code.

def cool_name():
    pass

class NeatName:
    pass

print(cool_name.__name__)
print(NeatName.__name__)

Interestingly, a function is still a class, and can be treated like one. You can assign properties and functions to another function.

cool_name.foo = "foo"
print(cool_name.foo)

def bar_func():
    print("bar")

cool_name.bar = bar_func

cool_name.bar()