Searching a list of objects in Python

Question

Let\'s assume I\'m creating a simple class to work similar to a C-style struct, to just hold data elements. I\'m trying to figure out how to search a list of objects for ob

Answer 1

You should add a __eq__ and a __hash__ method to your Data class, it could check if the __dict__ attributes are equal (same properties) and then if their values are equal, too.

If you did that, you can use

test = Data()
test.n = 5

found = test in myList

The in keyword checks if test is in myList.

If you only want to a a n property in Data you could use:

class Data(object):
    __slots__ = ['n']
    def __init__(self, n):
        self.n = n
    def __eq__(self, other):
        if not isinstance(other, Data):
            return False
        if self.n != other.n:
            return False
        return True
    def __hash__(self):
        return self.n

    myList = [ Data(1), Data(2), Data(3) ]
    Data(2) in myList  #==> True
    Data(5) in myList  #==> False