Python equivalent of PHPs __call() magic method?

Question

In PHP, I can do something like this:

class MyClass
{
  function __call($name, $args)
  {
    print('you tried to call a the method named: ' . $name);
  }
}
$Obj = new MyClass();
$Obj->nonexistant_method();   // prints "you tried to call a method named: nonexistant_method"

This would be handy to be able to do in Python for a project I'm working on (lots of nasty XML to parse, it'd be nice to turn it into objects and be able to just call methods.

Does Python have an equivalent?

Answer 1

You probably want __getattr__, although it works on class attributes as well as methods (because methods are just attributes that are functions).

Answer 2

Define a __getattr__ method on your object, and return a function (or a closure) from it.

In [1]: class A:
   ...:     def __getattr__(self, name):
   ...:         def function():
   ...:             print("You tried to call a method named: %s" % name)
   ...:         return function
   ...:     
   ...:     

In [2]: a = A()

In [3]: a.test()
You tried to call a method named: test