Question

I understand that functions can have attributes. So I can do the following:

def myfunc():
    myfunc.attribute += 1
    print(myfunc.attribute)

myfunc.attribute = 1

Is it possible by any means to make such a function behave as if it were an instance? For example, I’d like to be able to do something like this:

x = clever_wrapper(myfunc)
y = clever_wrapper(myfunc)
x.attribute = 5
y.attribute = 9
x()   # I want this to print 6 (from the 5 plus increment)
y()   # I want this to print 10 (from the 9 plus increment)

As it stands, there is only one “instance” of the function, so attribute only exists once. Modifying it by either x or y changes the same value. I’d like each of them to have their own attribute. Is that possible to do at all? If so, can you provide a simple, functional example?

It is important that I be able to access attribute from inside of the function but have the value of attribute be different depending on which “instance” of the function is called. Essentially, I’d like to use attribute as if it were another parameter to the function (so that it could change the behavior of the function) but not pass it in. (Suppose that the signature of the function were fixed so that I cannot change the parameter list.) But I need to be able to set the different values for attribute and then call the functions in sequence. I hope that makes sense.

The main answers seem to be saying to do something like this:

class wrapper(object):
    def __init__(self, target):
        self.target = target
    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        return self.target(*args, **kwargs)

def test(a):
    return a + test.attribute

x = wrapper(test)
y = wrapper(test)
x.attribute = 2
y.attribute = 3
print(x.attribute) 
print(y.attribute)
print(x(3))
print(y(7))

But that doesn’t work. Maybe I’ve done it incorrectly, but it says that test does not have attribute. (I’m assuming that it’s because wrapper actually has the attribute.)

The reason I need this is because I have a library that expects a function with a particular signature. It’s possible to put those functions into a pipeline of sorts so that they’re called in order. I’d like to pass it multiple versions of the same function but change their behavior based on an attribute’s value. So I’d like to be able to add x and y to the pipeline, as opposed to having to implement a test1 function and a test2 function that both do almost exactly the same thing (except for the value of the attribute).

Answer 1

You can make a class with a __call__ method which would achieve a similar thing.

Edit for clarity: Instead of making myfunc a function, make it a callable class. It walks like a function and it quacks like a function, but it can have members like a class.