Set function signature in Python

user_165495 0
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Suppose I have a generic function f. I want to programmatically create a function f2 that behaves the same as f, but has a customized signature.

More detail

Given a list l and and dictionary d I want to be able to:

  • Set the non-keyword arguments of f2 to the strings in l
  • Set the keyword arguments of f2 to the keys in d and the default values to the values of d

ie. Suppose we have

l = ["x", "y"]
d = {"opt": None}

def f(*args, **kwargs):
    # My code

Then I would want a function with signature:

def f2(x, y, opt=None):
    # My code

A specific use case

This is just a simplified version of my specific use case. I am giving this as an example only.

My actual use case (simplified) is as follows. We have a generic initiation function:

def generic_init(self, *args, **kwargs):
    """Function to initiate a generic object"""
    for name, arg in zip(self.__init_args__, args):
        setattr(self, name, arg)
    for name, default in self.__init_kw_args__.items():
        if name in kwargs:
            setattr(self, name, kwargs[name])
        else:
            setattr(self, name, default)

We want to use this function in a number of classes. In particular, we want to create a function __init__ that behaves like generic_init, but has the signature defined by some class variables at creation time:

class my_class:
    __init_args__ = ["x", "y"]
    __kw_init_args__ = {"my_opt": None}

__init__ = create_initiation_function(my_class, generic_init)
setattr(myclass, "__init__", __init__)

We want create_initiation_function to create a new function with the signature defined using __init_args__ and __kw_init_args__. Is it possible to write create_initiation_function?

Please note:

  • If I just wanted to improve the help, I could set __doc__.
  • We want to set the function signature on creation. After that, it doesn't need to be changed.
  • Instead of creating a function like generic_init, but with a different signature we could create a new function with the desired signature that just calls generic_init
  • We want to define create_initiation_function. We don't want to manually specify the new function!

Related

function python
8 Answers

I wrote a package named forge that solves this exact problem for Python 3.5+:

With your current code looking like this:

l=["x", "y"]
d={"opt":None}

def f(*args, **kwargs):
    #My code

And your desired code looking like this:

def f2(x, y, opt=None):
    #My code

Here is how you would solve that using forge:

f2 = forge.sign(
    forge.arg('x'),
    forge.arg('y'),
    forge.arg('opt', default=None),
)(f)

As forge.sign is a wrapper, you could also use it directly:

@forge.sign(
    forge.arg('x'),
    forge.arg('y'),
    forge.arg('opt', default=None),
)
def func(*args, **kwargs):
    # signature becomes: func(x, y, opt=None)
    return (args, kwargs)

assert func(1, 2) == ((), {'x': 1, 'y': 2, 'opt': None})
user_4651640

Have a look at makefun, it was made for that (exposing variants of functions with more or less parameters and accurate signature), and works in python 2 and 3.

Your example would be written like this:

try:  # python 3.3+
    from inspect import signature, Signature, Parameter
except ImportError:
    from funcsigs import signature, Signature, Parameter

from makefun import create_function

def create_initiation_function(cls, gen_init):
    # (1) check which signature we want to create
    params = [Parameter('self', kind=Parameter.POSITIONAL_OR_KEYWORD)]
    for mandatory_arg_name in cls.__init_args__:
        params.append(Parameter(mandatory_arg_name, kind=Parameter.POSITIONAL_OR_KEYWORD))
    for default_arg_name, default_arg_val in cls.__opt_init_args__.items():
        params.append(Parameter(default_arg_name, kind=Parameter.POSITIONAL_OR_KEYWORD, default=default_arg_val))
    sig = Signature(params)

    # (2) create the init function dynamically
    return create_function(sig, generic_init)

# ----- let's use it

def generic_init(self, *args, **kwargs):
    """Function to initiate a generic object"""
    assert len(args) == 0
    for name, val in kwargs.items():
        setattr(self, name, val)

class my_class:
    __init_args__ = ["x", "y"]
    __opt_init_args__ = {"my_opt": None}

my_class.__init__ = create_initiation_function(my_class, generic_init)

and works as expected:

# check 
o1 = my_class(1, 2)
assert vars(o1) == {'y': 2, 'x': 1, 'my_opt': None}

o2 = my_class(1, 2, 3)
assert vars(o2) == {'y': 2, 'x': 1, 'my_opt': 3}

o3 = my_class(my_opt='hello', y=3, x=2)
assert vars(o3) == {'y': 3, 'x': 2, 'my_opt': 'hello'}
user_72622470
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