What is a metaclass in Python?

Question

I´ve mastered almost all the Python concepts (well, let´s say there are just OO concepts :-)) but this one is tricky.

I know it has something to do with introspection but it´s still unclear to me.

So what are metaclasses? What do you use them for?

Concrete examples, including snippets, much appreciated!

Answer 1

Metaclasses are the secret sauce that make 'class' work. The default metaclass for a new style object is called 'type'.

class type(object)
 |  type(object) -> the object's type
 |  type(name, bases, dict) -> a new type

Metaclasses take 3 args. 'name', 'bases' and 'dict'

Here is where the secret starts. Look for where name, bases and the dict come from in this example class definition.

class ThisIsTheName(Bases, Are, Here):
    All_the_code_here
    def doesIs(create, a):
        dict

Lets define a metaclass that will demonstrate how 'class:' calls it.

def test_metaclass(name, bases, dict):
    print 'The Class Name is', name
    print 'The Class Bases are', bases
    print 'The dict has', len(dict), 'elems, the keys are', dict.keys()

    return "yellow"

class TestName(object, None, int, 1):
    __metaclass__ = test_metaclass
    foo = 1
    def baz(self, arr):
        pass

print 'TestName = ', repr(TestName)

# output => 
The Class Name is TestName
The Class Bases are (<type 'object'>, None, <type 'int'>, 1)
The dict has 4 elems, the keys are ['baz', '__module__', 'foo', '__metaclass__']
TestName =  'yellow'

And now, an example that actually means something, this will automatically make the variables in the list "attributes" set on the class, and set to None.

def init_attributes(name, bases, dict):
    if 'attributes' in dict:
        for attr in dict['attributes']:
            dict[attr] = None

    return type(name, bases, dict)

class Initialised(object):
    __metaclass__ = init_attributes
    attributes = ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']

print 'foo =>', Initialised.foo
# output=>
foo => None

Note that the magic behaviour that 'Initalised' gains by having the metaclass init_attributes is not passed onto a subclass of Initalised.

Here is an even more concrete example, showing how you can subclass 'type' to make a metaclass that performs an action when the class is created. This is quite tricky:

class MetaSingleton(type):
    instance = None
    def __call__(cls, *args, **kw):
        if cls.instance is None:
            cls.instance = super(MetaSingleton, cls).__call__(*args, **kw)
        return cls.instance

 class Foo(object):
     __metaclass__ = MetaSingleton

 a = Foo()
 b = Foo()
 assert a is b

Answer 2

I think the ONLamp introduction to metaclass programming is well written and gives a really good introduction to the topic despite being several years old already.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2003/04/17/metaclasses.html

In short: A class is a blueprint for the creation of an instance, a metaclass is a blueprint for the creation of a class. It can be easily seen that in Python classes need to be first-class objects too to enable this behavior.

I've never written one myself, but I think one of the nicest uses of metaclasses can be seen in the Django framework. The model classes use a metaclass approach to enable a declarative style of writing new models or form classes. While the metaclass is creating the class, all members get the possibility to customize the class itself.

• Creating a new model
• The metaclass enabling this

The thing that's left to say is: If you don't know what metaclasses are, the probability that you will not need them is 99%.

Answer 3

One use for metaclasses is adding new properties and methods to an instance automatically.

For example, if you look at Django models, their definition looks a bit confusing. It looks as if you are only defining class properties:

class Person(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=30)

However, at runtime the Person objects are filled with all sorts of useful methods. See the source for some amazing metaclassery.

Answer 4

A metaclass is the class of a class. Like a class defines how an instance of the class behaves, a metaclass defines how a class behaves. A class is an instance of a metaclass.

While in Python you can use arbitrary callables for metaclasses (like Jerub shows), the more useful approach is actually to make it an actual class itself. 'type' is the usual metaclass in Python. In case you're wondering, yes, 'type' is itself a class, and it is its own type. You won't be able to recreate something like 'type' purely in Python, but Python cheats a little. To create your own metaclass in Python you really just want to subclass 'type'.

A metaclass is most commonly used as a class-factory. Like you create an instance of the class by calling the class, Python creates a new class (when it executes the 'class' statement) by calling the metaclass. Combined with the normal __init__ and __new__ methods, metaclasses therefor allow you to do 'extra things' when creating a class, like registering the new class with some registry, or even replace the class with something else entirely.

When the 'class' statement is executed, Python first executes the body of the 'class' statement as a normal block of code. The resulting namespace (a dict) holds the attributes of the class-to-be. The metaclass is determined by looking at the baseclasses of the class-to-be (metaclasses are inherited), at the __metaclass__ attribute of the class-to-be (if any) or the '__metaclass__' global variable. The metaclass is then called with the name, bases and attributes of the class to instantiate it.

However, metaclasses actually define the type of a class, not just a factory for it, so you can do much more with them. You can, for instance, define normal methods on the metaclass. These metaclass-methods are like classmethods, in that they can be called on the class without an instance, but they are also not like classmethods in that they cannot be called on an instance of the class. type.__subclasses__() is an example of a method on the 'type' metaclass. You can also define the normal 'magic' methods, like __add__, __iter__ and __getattr__, to implement or change how the class behaves.

Here's an aggregated example of the bits and pieces:

def make_hook(f):
    """Decorator to turn 'foo' method into '__foo__'"""
    f.is_hook = 1
    return f

class MyType(type):
    def __new__(cls, name, bases, attrs):

        if name.startswith('None'):
            return None

        # Go over attributes and see if they should be renamed.
        newattrs = {}
        for attrname, attrvalue in attrs.iteritems():
            if getattr(attrvalue, 'is_hook', 0):
                newattrs['__%s__' % attrname] = attrvalue
            else:
                newattrs[attrname] = attrvalue

        return super(MyType, cls).__new__(cls, name, bases, newattrs)

    def __init__(self, name, bases, attrs):
        super(MyType, self).__init__(name, bases, attrs)

        # classregistry.register(self, self.interfaces)
        print "Would register class %s now." % self

    def __add__(self, other):
        class AutoClass(self, other):
            pass
        return AutoClass
        # Alternatively, to autogenerate the classname as well as the class:
        # return type(self.__name__ + other.__name__, (self, other), {})

    def unregister(self):
        # classregistry.unregister(self)
        print "Would unregister class %s now." % self

class MyObject:
    __metaclass__ = MyType


class NoneSample(MyObject):
    pass

# Will print "NoneType None"
print type(NoneSample), repr(NoneSample)

class Example(MyObject):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value
    @make_hook
    def add(self, other):
        return self.__class__(self.value + other.value)

# Will unregister the class
Example.unregister()

inst = Example(10)
# Will fail with an AttributeError
#inst.unregister()

print inst + inst
class Sibling(MyObject):
    pass

ExampleSibling = Example + Sibling
# ExampleSibling is now a subclass of both Example and Sibling (with no
# content of its own) although it will believe it's called 'AutoClass'
print ExampleSibling
print ExampleSibling.__mro__

Answer 5

Here are a list of sites that helped me learn more about metaclasses:

• A conservative metaclass
• Stupid Metaclass and Template Tricks
• Metaclass programming in Python (ibm.com): Part 1 ibm.com
• Metaclass programming in Python (ibm.com): Part 2 ibm.com
• Metaclass programming in Python (ibm.com): Part 3 ibm.com