Unpacking object variables in python

Question

I'm thinking if there is some way to unpack object attributes. Usually doing this involves series of:

self.x = x
self.y = y
... #etc.

However it should be possible to do it better.

I'm thinking about something like:

def __init__(self,x,y,z):
  self.(x,y,z) = x,y,z

or maybe:

with x,y,z unpack(self)

or even function like:

def __init__(self,x,y,z):
  unpack(self,x,y,z)

Any ideas? Or is there some more pythonic way to do this?

Answer 1

You might want to use namedtuple, which does exactly the thing you want:

Code example from Official Python Documentation:

Point = namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'], verbose=True)

The above code is equivalent to:

class Point(tuple):
    'Point(x, y)'

    __slots__ = ()

    _fields = ('x', 'y')

    def __new__(_cls, x, y):
        'Create a new instance of Point(x, y)'
        return _tuple.__new__(_cls, (x, y))

    @classmethod
    def _make(cls, iterable, new=tuple.__new__, len=len):
        'Make a new Point object from a sequence or iterable'
        result = new(cls, iterable)
        if len(result) != 2:
            raise TypeError('Expected 2 arguments, got %d' % len(result))
        return result

    def __repr__(self):
        'Return a nicely formatted representation string'
        return 'Point(x=%r, y=%r)' % self

    def _asdict(self):
        'Return a new OrderedDict which maps field names to their values'
        return OrderedDict(zip(self._fields, self))

    def _replace(_self, **kwds):
        'Return a new Point object replacing specified fields with new values'
        result = _self._make(map(kwds.pop, ('x', 'y'), _self))
        if kwds:
            raise ValueError('Got unexpected field names: %r' % kwds.keys())
        return result

    def __getnewargs__(self):
        'Return self as a plain tuple.   Used by copy and pickle.'
        return tuple(self)

    __dict__ = _property(_asdict)

    def __getstate__(self):
        'Exclude the OrderedDict from pickling'
        pass

    x = _property(_itemgetter(0), doc='Alias for field number 0')

    y = _property(_itemgetter(1), doc='Alias for field number 1')

Here's how to use it:

>>> p = Point(11, y=22)     # instantiate with positional or keyword arguments
>>> p[0] + p[1]             # indexable like the plain tuple (11, 22)
33
>>> x, y = p                # unpack like a regular tuple
>>> x, y
(11, 22)
>>> p.x + p.y               # fields also accessible by name
33
>>> p                       # readable __repr__ with a name=value style
Point(x=11, y=22)

Source: http://docs.python.org/2/library/collections.html#namedtuple-factory-function-for-tuples-with-named-fields

One thing worth mentioning is that namedtuple is nothing but a regular class, and you could create a class that inherit from it.

Answer 2

I am pretty sure that you can do this: self.x, self.y, self.z = x, y, z