For classes in general, you can access the __annotations__
:
>>> class Foo:
... bar: int
... baz: str
...
>>> Foo.__annotations__
{'bar': <class 'int'>, 'baz': <class 'str'>}
This returns a dict
mapping attribute name to annotation.
However, dataclasses have use dataclass.field
objects to encapsulate a lot of this information. You can use dataclasses.fields
on an instance or on the class:
>>> import dataclasses
>>> @dataclasses.dataclass
... class Foo:
... bar: int
... baz: str
...
>>> dataclasses.fields(Foo)
(Field(name='bar',type=<class 'int'>,default=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,default_factory=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,init=True,repr=True,hash=None,compare=True,metadata=mappingproxy({}),_field_type=_FIELD), Field(name='baz',type=<class 'str'>,default=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,default_factory=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,init=True,repr=True,hash=None,compare=True,metadata=mappingproxy({}),_field_type=_FIELD))
NOTE:
Starting in Python 3.7, the evaluation of annotations can be postponed:
>>> from __future__ import annotations
>>> class Foo:
... bar: int
... baz: str
...
>>> Foo.__annotations__
{'bar': 'int', 'baz': 'str'}
note, the annotation is kept as a string, this also affects dataclasses
as well:
>>> @dataclasses.dataclass
... class Foo:
... bar: int
... baz: str
...
>>> dataclasses.fields(Foo)
(Field(name='bar',type='int',default=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,default_factory=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,init=True,repr=True,hash=None,compare=True,metadata=mappingproxy({}),_field_type=_FIELD), Field(name='baz',type='str',default=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,default_factory=<dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE object at 0x7f806369bc10>,init=True,repr=True,hash=None,compare=True,metadata=mappingproxy({}),_field_type=_FIELD))
So, just be aware, since this will become the standard behavior, code you write should probably use the __future__
import and work under that assumption, because in Python 3.10, this will become the standard behavior.
The motivation behind this behavior is that the following currently raises an error:
>>> class Node:
... def foo(self) -> Node:
... return Node()
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<stdin>", line 2, in Node
NameError: name 'Node' is not defined
But with the new behavior:
>>> from __future__ import annotations
>>> class Node:
... def foo(self) -> Node:
... return Node()
...
>>>
One way to handle this is to use the typing.get_type_hints
, which I believe just basically eval
's the type hints:
>>> import typing
>>> typing.get_type_hints(Node.foo)
{'return': <class '__main__.Node'>}
>>> class Foo:
... bar: int
... baz: str
...
>>> Foo.__annotations__
{'bar': 'int', 'baz': 'str'}
>>> import typing
>>> typing.get_type_hints(Foo)
{'bar': <class 'int'>, 'baz': <class 'str'>}
Not sure how reliable this function is, but basically, it handles getting the appropriate globals
and locals
of where the class was defined. So, consider:
(py38) juanarrivillaga@Juan-Arrivillaga-MacBook-Pro ~ % cat test.py
from __future__ import annotations
import typing
class Node:
next: Node
(py38) juanarrivillaga@Juan-Arrivillaga-MacBook-Pro ~ % python
Python 3.8.5 (default, Sep 4 2020, 02:22:02)
[Clang 10.0.0 ] :: Anaconda, Inc. on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import test
>>> test.Node
<class 'test.Node'>
>>> import typing
>>> typing.get_type_hints(test.Node)
{'next': <class 'test.Node'>}
Naively, you might try something like:
>>> test.Node.__annotations__
{'next': 'Node'}
>>> eval(test.Node.__annotations__['next'])
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'Node' is not defined
You could hack together something like:
>>> eval(test.Node.__annotations__['next'], vars(test))
<class 'test.Node'>
But it can get tricky