Difference between __getattr__ vs __getattribute__

python getattr getattribute
Yarin picture Yarin · Jul 19, 2010 · Viewed 141.3k times · Source

I am trying to understand when to use __getattr__ or __getattribute__. The documentation mentions __getattribute__ applies to new-style classes. What are new-style classes?

Answer

Ned Batchelder picture Ned Batchelder · Jul 19, 2010

A key difference between __getattr__ and __getattribute__ is that __getattr__ is only invoked if the attribute wasn't found the usual ways. It's good for implementing a fallback for missing attributes, and is probably the one of two you want.

__getattribute__ is invoked before looking at the actual attributes on the object, and so can be tricky to implement correctly. You can end up in infinite recursions very easily.

New-style classes derive from object, old-style classes are those in Python 2.x with no explicit base class. But the distinction between old-style and new-style classes is not the important one when choosing between __getattr__ and __getattribute__.

You almost certainly want __getattr__.

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