How can I access "static" class variables within methods?

Question

If I have the following code:

class Foo(object):
 bar = 1
 def bah(self):
 print(bar)
 
f = Foo()
f.bah()

It complains

NameError: global name 'bar' is not defined

How can I access class/static variable bar within method bah?

• bedwyr: More information regarding Python and statics can be found here: stackoverflow.com/questions/68645/python-static-variable

Answer 1

Instead of bar use self.bar or Foo.bar. Assigning to Foo.bar will create a static variable, and assigning to self.bar will create an instance variable.

• bedwyr: Foo.bar will work, but self.bar creates an instance variable, not a static one.
• Constantin: bedwyr, "print self.bar" will not create any instance variables (although assigning to self.bar will).
• bedwyr: @Constantin -- I didn't realize that, it's an interesting distinction. Thanks for the correction :-)
• mk12: But if you don't intend for there to be an ivar, its clearer to use Foo.classmember.
• Trevor Boyd Smith: when using static variables, it's a good idea to read the gotchas from here: stackoverflow.com/questions/68645/… . @Constantin gives one of the many gotchas.

Answer 2

Define class method:

class Foo(object):
 bar = 1
 @classmethod
 def bah(cls): 
 print cls.bar

Now if bah() has to be instance method (i.e. have access to self), you can still directly access the class variable.

class Foo(object):
 bar = 1
 def bah(self): 
 print self.bar

• mk12: Why not just Foo.bar, instead of self.__class__.bar?
• Craig McQueen: @Mk12: When you've got class inheritance, a "class variable"could be in a base class or a subclass. Which do you want to refer to? Depends on what you're trying to do. Foo.bar would always refer to an attribute of the specified class--which might be a base class or a subclass. self.__class__.bar would refer to whichever class the instance is a type of.
• holdenweb: Now we have reached that unfortunate point when we become so aware of the details of the language that we can discriminate between two finely attuned use cases. It does indeed depend what you want to do, but many people won't attend to such subtleties.
• ToolmakerSteve: BTW, this is a RARE usage of "class variable". Much more common to have it defined in a specific class, here Foo. This is useful information for some advanced programming situations. But almost certainly not what the original question wanted as an answer (anyone who needs THIS answer will already know how to do Foo.bar). +1 because I learned something from this.
• Bill: I'm learning about when to use class variables and methods (as opposed to instance variables and methods). When you want to access a class variable in an instance method, is it necessary to use self.__class__.bar? I noticed that self.bar works even though bar is a class variable not an instance variable.

Answer 3

As with all good examples, you've simplified what you're actually trying to do. This is good, but it is worth noting that python has a lot of flexibility when it comes to class versus instance variables. The same can be said of methods. For a good list of possibilities, I recommend reading Michael Fötsch' new-style classes introduction, especially sections 2 through 6.

One thing that takes a lot of work to remember when getting started is that python is not java. More than just a cliche. In java, an entire class is compiled, making the namespace resolution real simple: any variables declared outside a method (anywhere) are instance (or, if static, class) variables and are implicitly accessible within methods.

With python, the grand rule of thumb is that there are three namespaces that are searched, in order, for variables:

1. The function/method
2. The current module
3. Builtins

{begin pedagogy}

There are limited exceptions to this. The main one that occurs to me is that, when a class definition is being loaded, the class definition is its own implicit namespace. But this lasts only as long as the module is being loaded, and is entirely bypassed when within a method. Thus:

>>> class A(object):
 foo = 'foo'
 bar = foo
>>> A.foo
'foo'
>>> A.bar
'foo'

but:

>>> class B(object):
 foo = 'foo'
 def get_foo():
 return foo
 bar = get_foo()
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<pyshell#11>", line 1, in <module>
 class B(object):
 File "<pyshell#11>", line 5, in B
 bar = get_foo()
 File "<pyshell#11>", line 4, in get_foo
 return foo
NameError: global name 'foo' is not defined

{end pedagogy}

In the end, the thing to remember is that you do have access to any of the variables you want to access, but probably not implicitly. If your goals are simple and straightforward, then going for Foo.bar or self.bar will probably be sufficient. If your example is getting more complicated, or you want to do fancy things like inheritance (you can inherit static/class methods!), or the idea of referring to the name of your class within the class itself seems wrong to you, check out the intro I linked.

• Jeff Shannon: IIRC, there's technically 3(+) namespaces searched -- function-local, module/global, and builtins. Nested scopes means that multiple local scopes may be searched, but that's one of the exceptional cases. (...)
• Jeff Shannon: Also, I'd be careful saying 'main module', as it is the function's containing module that's searched, not the main module... And looking up the attribute from an instance ref is a different thing, but this answer does explain why you need the instance/class ref.

Answer 4

class Foo(object):
 bar = 1
 def bah(self):
 print Foo.bar
f = Foo() 
f.bah()

Answer 5

bar is your static variable and you can access it using Foo.bar.

Basically, you need to qualify your static variable with Class name.

• User1010: Consider adding more information to expand on your answer, or consider editing other answers to add this detail.

Answer 6

You can access class variables by object and directly by class name from the outside or inside of class and basically, you should access class variables directly by class name because if there are the same name class and instance variables, the same name instance variable is prioritized while the same name instance variable is ignored when accessed by object. So, using class name is safer than using object to access class variables.

For example, you can access the class variable by object and directly by class name from the outside of the class as shown below:

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
obj = Person()
print(obj.name) # By object
print(Person.name) # By class name

Output:

John
John

But, if you add the same name instance variable as the class variable by object:

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
obj = Person()
obj.name = "Tom" # Adds the same name instance variable as class variable
print(obj.name) # By object
print(Person.name) # By class name

Or, if you add the same name instance variable as the class variable by self in __init__():

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
 
 def __init__(self, name):
 self.name = name # Adds the same name instance variable as class variable
obj = Person("Tom")
print(obj.name) # By object
print(Person.name) # By class name

The same name instance variable is prioritized when accessed by object:

Tom # By object
John # By class name

And, you can also access the class variable by self and directly by class name from the inside of the instance method as shown below:

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
 
 def test(self): # Instance method
 print(self.name) # By "self"
 print(Person.name) # By class name
obj = Person()
obj.test()

Output:

John
John

But, if you add the same name instance variable as the class variable by object:

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
 
 def test(self): # Instance method
 print(self.name) # By "self"
 print(Person.name) # By class name
obj = Person()
obj.name = "Tom" # Adds the same name instance variable as the class variable
obj.test()

Or, if you add the same name instance variable as the class variable by self in __init__():

class Person:
 name = "John" # Class variable
 
 def __init__(self, name):
 self.name = name # Adds the same name instance variable as the class variable
 
 def test(self): # Instance method
 print(self.name) # By "self"
 print(Person.name) # Directly by class name
obj = Person("Tom")
obj.test()

The same name instance variable is prioritized when accessed by self:

Tom # By "self"
John # By class name