Python “protected” attributes

Question

How do I access a private attribute of a parent class from a subclass (without making it public)?

Answer 1

No one seems to answer the original question

how to access a private attribute of a parent class from a subclass

So here's a simple use case, demonstrating two options - accessing parent class __private variables and using @property decorator:

class Family:

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.__family_name = name

    @property
    def name(self):
        return self.__family_name


class Child(Family):

    def __init__(self, first_name, last_name):
        super(Child, self).__init__(last_name)
        self.__child_name = first_name


    @property
    def name(self):
        return (self.__child_name, super(Child, self).name)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    my_child = Child("Albert", "Einstein")

    # print (my_child.__child_name)         # AttributeError - trying to access private attribute '__child_name'
    # print (my_child.__family_name)        # AttributeError - trying to access private attribute '__family_name'
    print (my_child._Child__child_name)     # Prints "Albert" - By accessing __child_name of Child sub-class
    print (my_child._Family__family_name)   # Prints "Einstein" - By accessing __family_name in Family super-class
    print (" ".join(my_child.name))         # Prints "Albert Einstein" - By using @property decorators in Child and Family