classinstance.dict returns empty dictionary

Question

When I define a class with variables already assign, instantiate it and use __dict__ to get variables as a dictionary, I get an empty list.

In [5]:

class A(object):
    a = 1
    b = 2
    text = "hello world"

    def __init__(self):
        pass

    def test(self):
        pass

x = A()
x.__dict__

Out[5]:
{}

But when I declare variables in __init__ and use __dict__ it returns variables which were assigned after instantiation of class.

In [9]:

class A(object):
    a = 1
    def __init__(self):
        pass

    def test(self):
        self.b = 2
        self.text = "hello world"


x = A()
x.test()
x.__dict__

Out[9]:
{'b': 2, 'text': 'hello world'}

Why is that __dict__ returning only variables declared after instantiation of class

Edit Answer:

When an instance is created like x = A()

x.__dict__ stores all the instance attributes.

A.__dict__ stores the class attributes

Because the others are class attributes, not instance attributes. — Daniel Roseman, Jun 06 '16 at 07:08
Because `instance.__dict__` only holds *instance* attributes. Your first example created *class* attributes, and these are shared between all instances. — Martijn Pieters, Jun 06 '16 at 07:12
Why is this question closed, as duplicate. That question doesn't even answer my question — Harwee, Jun 06 '16 at 07:40

Avinash Raj · Answer 1 · 2016-06-06T07:09:03.193

2

Pls try A.__dict__ to get all class attributes,

x = A()
x.__dict__

here you are calling __dict__ method on A's instance. So the variables associated with that instance should be displayed...

self.b, self.text are instance variables which are specific to particular instance only..

edited Jun 06 '16 at 07:09

answered Jun 06 '16 at 07:03

Avinash Raj

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then use `x.__class__.__dict__` if only have access to instance – 27px Aug 05 '23 at 16:28

classinstance.__dict__ returns empty dictionary

1 Answers1

classinstance.dict returns empty dictionary