Change attribute for object and return the object in one line

Question

Is is possible to rewrite this code:

def function(obj):
    obj.attrib = 8
    return obj

So the set of the attribute and the return line appears in only one line? Something like:

def function(obj):
    return obj.attrib = 8 # of course, this does not work

Answer 1

You could do this:

def function(obj):
    return setattr(obj, 'attrib', 8) or obj

This works because built-in function setattr returns None.