Difference between __getattr__ vs __getattribute__

Question

I am trying to understand when to use __getattr__ or __getattribute__. The documentation mentions __getattribute__ applies to new-sty

Answer 1

Lets see some simple examples of both __getattr__ and __getattribute__ magic methods.

__getattr__

Python will call __getattr__ method whenever you request an attribute that hasn't already been defined. In the following example my class Count has no __getattr__ method. Now in main when I try to access both obj1.mymin and obj1.mymax attributes everything works fine. But when I try to access obj1.mycurrent attribute -- Python gives me AttributeError: 'Count' object has no attribute 'mycurrent'

class Count():
    def __init__(self,mymin,mymax):
        self.mymin=mymin
        self.mymax=mymax

obj1 = Count(1,10)
print(obj1.mymin)
print(obj1.mymax)
print(obj1.mycurrent)  --> AttributeError: 'Count' object has no attribute 'mycurrent'

Now my class Count has __getattr__ method. Now when I try to access obj1.mycurrent attribute -- python returns me whatever I have implemented in my __getattr__ method. In my example whenever I try to call an attribute which doesn't exist, python creates that attribute and set it to integer value 0.

class Count:
    def __init__(self,mymin,mymax):
        self.mymin=mymin
        self.mymax=mymax    

    def __getattr__(self, item):
        self.__dict__[item]=0
        return 0

obj1 = Count(1,10)
print(obj1.mymin)
print(obj1.mymax)
print(obj1.mycurrent1)

__getattribute__

Now lets see the __getattribute__ method. If you have __getattribute__ method in your class, python invokes this method for every attribute regardless whether it exists or not. So why we need __getattribute__ method? One good reason is that you can prevent access to attributes and make them more secure as shown in the following example.

Whenever someone try to access my attributes that starts with substring 'cur' python raises AttributeError exception. Otherwise it returns that attribute.

class Count:

    def __init__(self,mymin,mymax):
        self.mymin=mymin
        self.mymax=mymax
        self.current=None

    def __getattribute__(self, item):
        if item.startswith('cur'):
            raise AttributeError
        return object.__getattribute__(self,item) 
        # or you can use ---return super().__getattribute__(item)

obj1 = Count(1,10)
print(obj1.mymin)
print(obj1.mymax)
print(obj1.current)

Important: In order to avoid infinite recursion in __getattribute__ method, its implementation should always call the base class method with the same name to access any attributes it needs. For example: object.__getattribute__(self, name) or super().__getattribute__(item) and not self.__dict__[item]

IMPORTANT

If your class contain both getattr and getattribute magic methods then __getattribute__ is called first. But if __getattribute__ raises AttributeError exception then the exception will be ignored and __getattr__ method will be invoked. See the following example:

class Count(object):

    def __init__(self,mymin,mymax):
        self.mymin=mymin
        self.mymax=mymax
        self.current=None

    def __getattr__(self, item):
            self.__dict__[item]=0
            return 0

    def __getattribute__(self, item):
        if item.startswith('cur'):
            raise AttributeError
        return object.__getattribute__(self,item)
        # or you can use ---return super().__getattribute__(item)
        # note this class subclass object

obj1 = Count(1,10)
print(obj1.mymin)
print(obj1.mymax)
print(obj1.current)