In Python can instance() be used to detect a class method?

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How to determine if an object is a class method? Isn't it best practice to use instance(), and how does one make that work?

class Foo:
    class_var = 0

    @classmethod
    def bar(cls):
        cls.class_var += 1
        print("class variable value:", cls.class_var)


def wrapper(wrapped: classmethod):
    """
    Call the wrapped method.

    :param wrapped (classmethod, required)
    """
    wrapped()

Foo.bar()
wrapper(Foo.bar)
print("the type is:", type(Foo.bar))
print("instance check success:", isinstance(Foo.bar, classmethod))

Output:

class variable value: 1
class variable value: 2
the type is: <class 'method'>
instance check success: False

Process finished with exit code 0
isinstance class-method python
2 Answers

If you just want to tell class methods apart from regular methods and static methods, then you can check this with inspect.ismethod(f).

class A:
    def method(self): pass
    @classmethod
    def class_method(cls): pass
    @staticmethod
    def static_method(): pass

In the REPL:

>>> from inspect import ismethod
>>> ismethod(A.method)
False
>>> ismethod(A.class_method)
True
>>> ismethod(A.static_method)
False

If you prefer to do this with isinstance, then that's possible using typing.types.MethodType:

>>> from typing import types
>>> isinstance(A.method, types.MethodType)
False
>>> isinstance(A.class_method, types.MethodType)
True
>>> isinstance(A.static_method, types.MethodType)
False

Note that these tests will incorrectly identify e.g. A().method because really we're just testing for a bound method as opposed to an unbound function. So the above solutions only work assuming that you are checking A.something where A is a class and something is either a regular method, a class method or a static method.

user_122990000

As you know Python fills the first parameter of the classmethods with a reference to the class itself and it doesn't matter if you call that method from the class or the instance of the class. A method object is a function which has an object bound to it.

That object can be retrieved by .__self__ attribute. So you can simply check that if the .__self__ attribute is a class or not. If it is a class , it's class is type.

One way of doing it:

class Foo:

    @classmethod
    def fn1(cls):
        pass

    def fn2(self):
        pass


def is_classmethod(m):
    first_parameter = getattr(m, '__self__', None)
    if not first_parameter:
        return False

    type_ = type(first_parameter)
    return type_ is type


print(is_classmethod(Foo.fn1))
print(is_classmethod(Foo().fn1))
print("-----------------------------------")
print(is_classmethod(Foo.fn2))
print(is_classmethod(Foo().fn2))

output:

True
True
-----------------------------------
False
False

There is a ismethod function in inspect module that specifically checks that if the object is a bound method. You can use this as well before checking for the type of the first parameter.

NOTE: There is a caveat with the above solution, I'll mention it at the end.

Solution number 2:

Your isinstance solution didn't work because classmethod is a descriptor. If you want to get the actual classmethod instance, you should check the Foo's namespace and get the methods from there.

class Foo:

    @classmethod
    def fn1(cls):
        pass

    def fn2(self):
        pass


def is_classmethod(cls, m):
    return isinstance(cls.__dict__[m.__name__], classmethod)


print(is_classmethod(Foo, Foo.fn1))
print(is_classmethod(Foo, Foo().fn1))
print("-----------------------------------")
print(is_classmethod(Foo, Foo.fn2))
print(is_classmethod(Foo, Foo().fn2))

Solution number 1 caveat: For example if you have a simple MethodType object whose bound object is a different class like int here, this solution isn't going to work. Because remember we just checked that if the first parameter is of type type:

from types import MethodType

class Foo:
    def fn2(self):
        pass
    fn2 = MethodType(fn2, int)

    @classmethod
    def fn1(cls):
        pass

Now only solution number 2 works.

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