Adding a Method to an Existing Object *

Question

I've read that it is possible to add a method to an existing object (e.g. not in the class definition) in python, I think this is called Monkey Patching (or in some cases Duck Punching). I understand that it's not always a good decision to do so. But, how might one do this?

And if you don't know python, can your language of choice do this? If so, how?

UPDATE 8/04/2008 00:21:01 EST:

That looks like a good answer John Downey, I tried it but it appears that it ends up being not a true method. Your example defines the new patch function with an argument of self, but if you write actual code that way, the now patched class method asks for an argument named self (it doesn't automagically recognize it as the identity class, which is what would happen if defined within the class definition), meaning you have to call class.patch(class) instead of just class.patch() if you want the same functionality as a true method. It looks like python isn't really treating it as a method, but more just as a variable which happens to be a function (and as such is callable). Is there any way to attach an actual method to a class?

Oh, and Ryan, that isn't exactly what I was looking for (it isn't builtin functionality), but it is quite cool nonetheless.

Answer

In Python, there is a difference between functions and bound methods.

>>> def foo():
...     print "foo"
...
>>> class A:
...     def bar( self ):
...         print "bar"
...
>>> a = A()
>>> foo
<function foo at 0x00A98D70>
>>> a.bar
<bound method A.bar of <__main__.A instance at 0x00A9BC88>>
>>>

Bound methods have been "bound" (how descriptive) to an instance, and that instance will be passed as the first argument whenever the method is called.

Callables that are attributes of a class (as opposed to an instance) are still unbound, though, so you can modify the class definition whenever you want:

>>> def fooFighters( self ):
...     print "fooFighters"
...
>>> A.fooFighters = fooFighters
>>> a2 = A()
>>> a2.fooFighters
<bound method A.fooFighters of <__main__.A instance at 0x00A9BEB8>>
>>> a2.fooFighters()
fooFighters

Previously defined instances are updated as well (as long as they haven't overridden the attribute themselves):

>>> a.fooFighters()
fooFighters

The problem comes when you want to attach a method to a single instance:

>>> def barFighters( self ):
...     print "barFighters"
...
>>> a.barFighters = barFighters
>>> a.barFighters()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: barFighters() takes exactly 1 argument (0 given)

The function is not automatically bound when it's attached directly to an instance:

>>> a.barFighters
<function barFighters at 0x00A98EF0>

To bind it, we can use the MethodType function in the types module:

>>> import types
>>> a.barFighters = types.MethodType( barFighters, a )
>>> a.barFighters
<bound method ?.barFighters of <__main__.A instance at 0x00A9BC88>>
>>> a.barFighters()
barFighters

This time other instances of the class have not been affected:

>>> a2.barFighters()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: A instance has no attribute 'barFighters'

More information can be found by reading about descriptors and metaclass programming.

< br > via < a class="StackLink" href=" http://stackoverflow.com/questions/972/" >Adding a Method to an Existing Object< /a>

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