How to iterate through a module's functions

lobjc picture lobjc · Feb 19, 2014 · Viewed 19k times · Source

I have this function call after importing foo.py. Foo has several methods that I need to call e.g. foo.paint, foo.draw:

import foo

code

if foo:
    getattr(foo, 'paint')()

I need to use a while loop to call and iterate through all the functions foo.paint, foo.draw etc. How do i go about it?

Answer

Paulo Bu picture Paulo Bu · Feb 19, 2014

You can use foo.__dict__ somehow like this:

for name, val in foo.__dict__.iteritems(): # iterate through every module's attributes
    if callable(val):                      # check if callable (normally functions)
        val()                              # call it

But watch out, this will execute every function (callable) in the module. If some specific function receives any arguments it will fail.

A more elegant (functional) way to get functions would be:

[f for _, f in foo.__dict__.iteritems() if callable(f)]

For example, this will list all functions in the math method:

import math
[name for name, val in math.__dict__.iteritems() if callable(val)]
['pow',
 'fsum',
 'cosh',
 'ldexp',
 ...]