Can print() be reloaded for a user defined class?

[Peng Yu]

On Sep 19, 9:34 pm, r <rt8... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sep 19, 9:28 pm, Peng Yu <pengyu... at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I have the following code. The last line does not print the members
> > ("x" and "y") of 'my_bin'. I am wondering if there is a way to reload
> > the print function for bin, so that the last line print the members of
> > 'my_bin'.
>
> > Regards,
> > Peng
>
> > class bin:
> >   def __init__(self, x, y) :
> >     self.x = x
> >     self.y = y
>
> > if __name__ == '__main__':
>
> >   my_bin = bin(1, 2)
> >   print my_bin
>
> use the __str__ and or __repr__ methods
>
> > class Bin:
> >   def __init__(self, x, y) :
> >     self.x = x
> >     self.y = y
>
>     def __str__(self):
>         return 'Bin(%s, %s)' %(self.x, self.y)
>     __repr__ = __str__
>
> Please use an initial capital letter when defining a class, this is
> the accepted way in many languages!!!

I want to understand the exact meaning of the last line ('__repr__ =
__str__'). Would you please point me to the section of the python
manual that describes such usage.

Regards,
Peng