How to refer to a method name from with a method in Python?

Question

Say I have the following class defined with the method foo:

class MyClass:
    def foo(self):
        print "My name is %s" % __name__

Now when I call foo() I expect/want to see this printed out

My name is foo  

However I get

My name is __main__  

And if I was to put the class definition into a module called FooBar I would get

My name is FooBar  

However if I do

m = MyClass()
print m.foo.__name__

I get exactly what I want which is

My name is foo

Can someone please help explain why __name__ refers to the module and not the method name ? Is there an easy way to get the method name?

Many thanks

Answer 1

Names always refer to local variables or (if one doesn't exist) then global variables. There is a a global __name__ that has the module's name.

class MyClass:
  def foo(self):
    print "My name is %s" % MyClass.foo.__name__

Of course, that's redundant and almost entirely pointless. Just type out the method name:

class MyClass:
  def foo(self):
    print "My name is %s" % "foo"
    print "My name is foo"

Answer 2

__name__ refers to the module because that's what it's supposed to do. The only way to get at the currently running function would be to introspect the stack.

Answer 3

This will do it:

(You need to refer to self.__class__._name__.)

class MyClass:
    def foo(self):
        print "My name is %s" % self.__class__.__name__

Answer 4

This does what you're after:

from inspect import currentframe, getframeinfo

class MyClass:
    def foo(self):
        print "My name is %s" % getframeinfo(currentframe())[2]

Answer 5

Use introspection with the inspect module.

import inspect

class MyClass:
    def foo(self):
        print "My name is %s" % inspect.stack()[0][3]

Answer 6

The other answers explain it quite well so I contribute with a more concrete example.

name.py

def foo():
    print "name in foo",__name__

foo()
print "foo's name",foo.__name__
print "name at top",__name__

Output

name in foo __main__
foo's name foo
name at top __main__

name2.py

import name

Output

name in foo name
foo's name foo
name at top name

Notice how the __name__ refers to built-in property of the module? Which is __main__ if the module is run directly, or the name of the module if its imported.

You should have run across the if __name__=="__main__": snippet.

You can find the relevant docs here, go check them out. Good luck! :)

Answer 7

Have a look at the the inspect module.

Try:

>>> import inspect
>>> def foo():
...     print inspect.getframeinfo(inspect.currentframe())[2]
...
>>> foo()
foo

or:

>>> def foo2():
...     print inspect.stack()[0][3]
...
>>> foo2()
foo2