{"id":465,"date":"2020-10-11T12:06:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pythontutorial.net\/?page_id=465"},"modified":"2025-03-31T07:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T07:56:59","slug":"python-class-methods","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pythontutorial.net\/python-oop\/python-class-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"Python Class Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you’ll learn about Python class methods and when to use them appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction to Python class methods #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So far, you learned about instance methods<\/a> that are bound to a specific instance of a class<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instance methods can access instance variables<\/a> within the same class. To invoke instance methods, you need to create an instance of the class<\/a> first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following defines the Person<\/code> class:<\/p>\n\n\n

class<\/span> Person<\/span>:<\/span>\n    def<\/span> __init__<\/span>(self, first_name, last_name, age)<\/span>:<\/span>\n        self.first_name = first_name\n        self.last_name = last_name\n        self.age = age\n\n    def<\/span> get_full_name<\/span>(self)<\/span>:<\/span>\n        return<\/span> f\"{self.first_name}<\/span> {self.last_name}<\/span>\"<\/span>\n\n    def<\/span> introduce<\/span>(self)<\/span>:<\/span>\n        return<\/span> f\"Hi. I'm {self.first_name}<\/span> {self.last_name}<\/span>. I'm {self.age}<\/span> years old.\"<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Suppose that you want to add a method that creates an anonymous person to the Person<\/code> class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to do so, you would come up with the following code:<\/p>\n\n\n
class<\/span> Person<\/span>:<\/span>\n    # ... other methods<\/span>\n    def<\/span> create_anonymous<\/span>(self)<\/span>:<\/span>\n        return<\/span> Person('John'<\/span>, 'Doe'<\/span>, 25<\/span>)\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
The create_anonymous()<\/code> is an instance method that returns an anonymous person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, to invoke the create_anonymous()<\/code> method, you need to create an instance, which doesn’t make sense in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why Python class methods come into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A class method isn’t bound to any specific instance. It’s bound to the class only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To define a class method:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Person<\/code> class has three instance methods including __init__()<\/a><\/code>, get_full_name()<\/code>, and introduce()<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n