[Tutor] Re: special object method for method calls?

[Gonçalo Rodrigues]

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 19:43:03 -0800, you wrote:

>Abel Daniel wrote:
>
>> Jeff Shannon  writes:
>> 
>> 
>>>def __getattr__(self, attr):
>>>     if iscallable(self.__dict__[attr]):
>>>         # do whatever here
>>>     return self.__dict__[attr]
>> 
>> 
>> This won't work. From http://python.org/doc/current/ref/attribute-access.html:
>> 
>>      "Note that if the attribute is found through the normal
>>      mechanism, __getattr__() is not called."
>> 
>> So calling self.__dict__[attr] in __getattr__ will result in a
>> KeyError.
>
>Hm, you're right.  That's odd, I'd have *sworn* that __getattr__() 
>could be used to intercept lookups of existing attributes.  Or at 
>least that *something* could be.  Unfortunately I don't have time to 
>track this down right now...
>

What you want is __getattribute__ which intercepts *every* attribute
lookup. It only works with *new-style* classes though.

With my best regards,
G. Rodrigues