Using property() on classmethods

Question

Python >= 3.9

Just use both decorators together. See this answer.

Python < 3.9

A property is created on a class but affects an instance. So if you want a classmethod property, create the property on the metaclass.

>>> class foo(object):
...     _var = 5
...     class __metaclass__(type):  # Python 2 syntax for metaclasses
...         pass
...     @classmethod
...     def getvar(cls):
...         return cls._var
...     @classmethod
...     def setvar(cls, value):
...         cls._var = value
...     
>>> foo.__metaclass__.var = property(foo.getvar.im_func, foo.setvar.im_func)
>>> foo.var
5
>>> foo.var = 3
>>> foo.var
3

But since you're using a metaclass anyway, it will read better if you just move the classmethods in there.

>>> class foo(object):
...     _var = 5
...     class __metaclass__(type):  # Python 2 syntax for metaclasses
...         @property
...         def var(cls):
...             return cls._var
...         @var.setter
...         def var(cls, value):
...             cls._var = value
... 
>>> foo.var
5
>>> foo.var = 3
>>> foo.var
3

or, using Python 3's metaclass=... syntax, and the metaclass defined outside of the foo class body, and the metaclass responsible for setting the initial value of _var:

>>> class foo_meta(type):
...     def __init__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
...         cls._var = 5
...     @property
...     def var(cls):
...         return cls._var
...     @var.setter
...     def var(cls, value):
...         cls._var = value
...
>>> class foo(metaclass=foo_meta):
...     pass
...
>>> foo.var
5
>>> foo.var = 3
>>> foo.var
3

Reading the Python 2.2 release notes, I find the following.

The get method [of a property] won't be called when the property is accessed as a class attribute (C.x) instead of as an instance attribute (C().x). If you want to override the __get__ operation for properties when used as a class attribute, you can subclass property - it is a new-style type itself - to extend its __get__ method, or you can define a descriptor type from scratch by creating a new-style class that defines __get__, __set__ and __delete__ methods.

NOTE: The below method doesn't actually work for setters, only getters.

Therefore, I believe the prescribed solution is to create a ClassProperty as a subclass of property.

class ClassProperty(property):
    def __get__(self, cls, owner):
        return self.fget.__get__(None, owner)()

class foo(object):
    _var=5
    def getvar(cls):
        return cls._var
    getvar=classmethod(getvar)
    def setvar(cls,value):
        cls._var=value
    setvar=classmethod(setvar)
    var=ClassProperty(getvar,setvar)

assert foo.getvar() == 5
foo.setvar(4)
assert foo.getvar() == 4
assert foo.var == 4
foo.var = 3
assert foo.var == 3

However, the setters don't actually work:

foo.var = 4
assert foo.var == foo._var # raises AssertionError

foo._var is unchanged, you've simply overwritten the property with a new value.

You can also use ClassProperty as a decorator:

class foo(object):
    _var = 5

    @ClassProperty
    @classmethod
    def var(cls):
        return cls._var

    @var.setter
    @classmethod
    def var(cls, value):
        cls._var = value

assert foo.var == 5

I hope this dead-simple read-only @classproperty decorator would help somebody looking for classproperties.

class classproperty(object):

    def __init__(self, fget):
        self.fget = fget

    def __get__(self, owner_self, owner_cls):
        return self.fget(owner_cls)

class C(object):

    @classproperty
    def x(cls):
        return 1

assert C.x == 1
assert C().x == 1

Python 3.9 2020 UPDATE

You can just use them together:

class G:
    @classmethod
    @property
    def __doc__(cls):
        return f'A doc for {cls.__name__!r}'

Order matters - due to how the descriptors interact, @classmethod has to be on top.

See https://docs.python.org/3.9/library/functions.html#classmethod

Is it possible to use the property() function with classmethod decorated functions?

No.

However, a classmethod is simply a bound method (a partial function) on a class accessible from instances of that class.

Since the instance is a function of the class and you can derive the class from the instance, you can can get whatever desired behavior you might want from a class-property with property:

class Example(object):
    _class_property = None
    @property
    def class_property(self):
        return self._class_property
    @class_property.setter
    def class_property(self, value):
        type(self)._class_property = value
    @class_property.deleter
    def class_property(self):
        del type(self)._class_property

This code can be used to test - it should pass without raising any errors:

ex1 = Example()
ex2 = Example()
ex1.class_property = None
ex2.class_property = 'Example'
assert ex1.class_property is ex2.class_property
del ex2.class_property
assert not hasattr(ex1, 'class_property')

And note that we didn't need metaclasses at all - and you don't directly access a metaclass through its classes' instances anyways.

writing a @classproperty decorator

You can actually create a classproperty decorator in just a few lines of code by subclassing property (it's implemented in C, but you can see equivalent Python here):

class classproperty(property):
    def __get__(self, obj, objtype=None):
        return super(classproperty, self).__get__(objtype)
    def __set__(self, obj, value):
        super(classproperty, self).__set__(type(obj), value)
    def __delete__(self, obj):
        super(classproperty, self).__delete__(type(obj))

Then treat the decorator as if it were a classmethod combined with property:

class Foo(object):
    _bar = 5
    @classproperty
    def bar(cls):
        """this is the bar attribute - each subclass of Foo gets its own.
        Lookups should follow the method resolution order.
        """
        return cls._bar
    @bar.setter
    def bar(cls, value):
        cls._bar = value
    @bar.deleter
    def bar(cls):
        del cls._bar

And this code should work without errors:

def main():
    f = Foo()
    print(f.bar)
    f.bar = 4
    print(f.bar)
    del f.bar
    try:
        f.bar
    except AttributeError:
        pass
    else:
        raise RuntimeError('f.bar must have worked - inconceivable!')
    help(f)  # includes the Foo.bar help.
    f.bar = 5

    class Bar(Foo):
        "a subclass of Foo, nothing more"
    help(Bar) # includes the Foo.bar help!
    b = Bar()
    b.bar = 'baz'
    print(b.bar) # prints baz
    del b.bar
    print(b.bar) # prints 5 - looked up from Foo!

    
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

But I'm not sure how well-advised this would be. An old mailing list article suggests it shouldn't work.

Getting the property to work on the class:

The downside of the above is that the "class property" isn't accessible from the class, because it would simply overwrite the data descriptor from the class __dict__.

However, we can override this with a property defined in the metaclass __dict__. For example:

class MetaWithFooClassProperty(type):
    @property
    def foo(cls):
        """The foo property is a function of the class -
        in this case, the trivial case of the identity function.
        """
        return cls

And then a class instance of the metaclass could have a property that accesses the class's property using the principle already demonstrated in the prior sections:

class FooClassProperty(metaclass=MetaWithFooClassProperty):
    @property
    def foo(self):
        """access the class's property"""
        return type(self).foo

And now we see both the instance

>>> FooClassProperty().foo
<class '__main__.FooClassProperty'>

and the class

>>> FooClassProperty.foo
<class '__main__.FooClassProperty'>

have access to the class property.