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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-15T23:45:18+00:00

In PHP one can create a reference variable, so that two named variables can

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In PHP one can create a reference variable, so that two named variables can look at the same value:

$a = 1;
$b =& $a;
echo $a; // 1
echo $b; // 1
$b = 2;
echo $a; // 2

I’m looking to achieve something similar in Python. Specifically, I want to create a reference to an object’s property, eg:

class Foo(object):
  @property
  def bar(self): return some_calculated_value

foo_instance = Foo()
ref = foo_instance.bar 
# so that 'ref' is referencing the bar property on foo, calculated when used.

Is this possible?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    There is some more magic that can be done in Python (not that I would recommend it and it will require digging on your part ;-), but using a closure may be sufficient for your needs:

    get_x = lambda: foo_instance.bar
get_x() # yahoo!

    Edit, for those wanting “update support”, it’s all about the closures:

    def wrap_prop (obj, pname):
  def _access(*v):
    if not len(v):
      return getattr(obj, pname)
    else
      setattr(obj, pname, v[0])
  return _access

class z (object):
  pass

access = wrap_prop(z(), "bar")
access(20)
access() # yahoo! \o/

    Without stepping outside the bounds of normally (for me 🙂 accepted Python, this could also be written to return an object with forwarding/proxy property, imagine:

    access = wrap_prop(z(), "bar")
access.val = 20
access.val # yahoo \o/

    Some interesting links:

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