Python metaclasses vs class decorators

Question

What are the main differences between Python metaclasses and class decorators? Is there something I can do with one but not with the other?

Answer 1

As given in the chapter 21 of the book 'fluent python', one difference is related to inheritance. Please see these two scripts. The python version is 3.5. One point is that the use of metaclass affects its children while the decorator affects only the current class.

The script use class-decorator to replace/overwirte the method 'func1'.

def deco4cls(cls):
    cls.func1 = lambda self: 2
    return cls


@deco4cls
class Cls1:
    pass


class Cls1_1(Cls1):
    def func1(self):
        return 3


obj1_1 = Cls1_1()
print(obj1_1.func1())  # 3

The script use metaclass to replace/overwrite the method 'func1'.

class Deco4cls(type):
    def __init__(cls, name, bases, attr_dict):
        # print(cls, name, bases, attr_dict)
        super().__init__(name, bases, attr_dict)
        cls.func1 = lambda self: 2


class Cls2(metaclass=Deco4cls):
    pass


class Cls2_1(Cls2):
    def func1(self):
        return 3


obj2_1 = Cls2_1()
print(obj2_1.func1())  # 2!! the original Cls2_1.func1 is replaced by metaclass