Question

Is there a function in Python to list the attributes and methods of a particular object?

Something like:

ShowAttributes ( myObject )     -> .count    -> .size  ShowMethods ( myObject )     -> len    -> parse 

Answer 1

You want to look at the dir() function:

>>> li = [] >>> dir(li)       ['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort'] 

li is a list, so dir(li) returns a list of all the methods of a list. Note that the returned list contains the names of the methods as strings, not the methods themselves.

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Edit in response to comment:

No this will show all inherited methods as well. Consider this example:

test.py:

class Foo:     def foo(): pass  class Bar(Foo):     def bar(): pass 

Python interpreter:

>>> from test import Foo, Bar >>> dir(Foo) ['__doc__', '__module__', 'foo'] >>> dir(Bar) ['__doc__', '__module__', 'bar', 'foo'] 

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You should note that Python’s documentation states:

Note: Because dir() is supplied primarily as a convenience for use at an interactive prompt, it tries to supply an interesting set of names more than it tries to supply a rigorously or consistently defined set of names, and its detailed behavior may change across releases. For example, metaclass attributes are not in the result list when the argument is a class.

Therefore it’s not safe to use in your code. Use vars() instead. Vars() doesn’t include information about the superclasses, you’d have to collect them yourself.

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If you’re using dir() to find information in an interactive interpreter, consider the use of help().