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diff --git a/enum/doc/enum.rst b/enum/doc/enum.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d429bf --- /dev/null +++ b/enum/doc/enum.rst @@ -0,0 +1,725 @@ +``enum`` --- support for enumerations +======================================== + +.. :synopsis: enumerations are sets of symbolic names bound to unique, constant + values. +.. :moduleauthor:: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> +.. :sectionauthor:: Barry Warsaw <barry@python.org>, +.. :sectionauthor:: Eli Bendersky <eliben@gmail.com>, +.. :sectionauthor:: Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> + +---------------- + +An enumeration is a set of symbolic names (members) bound to unique, constant +values. Within an enumeration, the members can be compared by identity, and +the enumeration itself can be iterated over. + + +Module Contents +--------------- + +This module defines two enumeration classes that can be used to define unique +sets of names and values: ``Enum`` and ``IntEnum``. It also defines +one decorator, ``unique``. + +``Enum`` + +Base class for creating enumerated constants. See section `Functional API`_ +for an alternate construction syntax. + +``IntEnum`` + +Base class for creating enumerated constants that are also subclasses of ``int``. + +``unique`` + +Enum class decorator that ensures only one name is bound to any one value. + + +Creating an Enum +---------------- + +Enumerations are created using the ``class`` syntax, which makes them +easy to read and write. An alternative creation method is described in +`Functional API`_. To define an enumeration, subclass ``Enum`` as +follows:: + + >>> from enum import Enum + >>> class Color(Enum): + ... red = 1 + ... green = 2 + ... blue = 3 + +Note: Nomenclature + + - The class ``Color`` is an *enumeration* (or *enum*) + - The attributes ``Color.red``, ``Color.green``, etc., are + *enumeration members* (or *enum members*). + - The enum members have *names* and *values* (the name of + ``Color.red`` is ``red``, the value of ``Color.blue`` is + ``3``, etc.) + +Note: + + Even though we use the ``class`` syntax to create Enums, Enums + are not normal Python classes. See `How are Enums different?`_ for + more details. + +Enumeration members have human readable string representations:: + + >>> print(Color.red) + Color.red + +...while their ``repr`` has more information:: + + >>> print(repr(Color.red)) + <Color.red: 1> + +The *type* of an enumeration member is the enumeration it belongs to:: + + >>> type(Color.red) + <enum 'Color'> + >>> isinstance(Color.green, Color) + True + >>> + +Enum members also have a property that contains just their item name:: + + >>> print(Color.red.name) + red + +Enumerations support iteration. In Python 3.x definition order is used; in +Python 2.x the definition order is not available, but class attribute +``__order__`` is supported; otherwise, value order is used:: + + >>> class Shake(Enum): + ... __order__ = 'vanilla chocolate cookies mint' # only needed in 2.x + ... vanilla = 7 + ... chocolate = 4 + ... cookies = 9 + ... mint = 3 + ... + >>> for shake in Shake: + ... print(shake) + ... + Shake.vanilla + Shake.chocolate + Shake.cookies + Shake.mint + +The ``__order__`` attribute is always removed, and in 3.x it is also ignored +(order is definition order); however, in the stdlib version it will be ignored +but not removed. + +Enumeration members are hashable, so they can be used in dictionaries and sets:: + + >>> apples = {} + >>> apples[Color.red] = 'red delicious' + >>> apples[Color.green] = 'granny smith' + >>> apples == {Color.red: 'red delicious', Color.green: 'granny smith'} + True + + +Programmatic access to enumeration members and their attributes +--------------------------------------------------------------- + +Sometimes it's useful to access members in enumerations programmatically (i.e. +situations where ``Color.red`` won't do because the exact color is not known +at program-writing time). ``Enum`` allows such access:: + + >>> Color(1) + <Color.red: 1> + >>> Color(3) + <Color.blue: 3> + +If you want to access enum members by *name*, use item access:: + + >>> Color['red'] + <Color.red: 1> + >>> Color['green'] + <Color.green: 2> + +If have an enum member and need its ``name`` or ``value``:: + + >>> member = Color.red + >>> member.name + 'red' + >>> member.value + 1 + + +Duplicating enum members and values +----------------------------------- + +Having two enum members (or any other attribute) with the same name is invalid; +in Python 3.x this would raise an error, but in Python 2.x the second member +simply overwrites the first:: + + >>> # python 2.x + >>> class Shape(Enum): + ... square = 2 + ... square = 3 + ... + >>> Shape.square + <Shape.square: 3> + + >>> # python 3.x + >>> class Shape(Enum): + ... square = 2 + ... square = 3 + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + TypeError: Attempted to reuse key: 'square' + +However, two enum members are allowed to have the same value. Given two members +A and B with the same value (and A defined first), B is an alias to A. By-value +lookup of the value of A and B will return A. By-name lookup of B will also +return A:: + + >>> class Shape(Enum): + ... __order__ = 'square diamond circle alias_for_square' # only needed in 2.x + ... square = 2 + ... diamond = 1 + ... circle = 3 + ... alias_for_square = 2 + ... + >>> Shape.square + <Shape.square: 2> + >>> Shape.alias_for_square + <Shape.square: 2> + >>> Shape(2) + <Shape.square: 2> + + +Allowing aliases is not always desirable. ``unique`` can be used to ensure +that none exist in a particular enumeration:: + + >>> from enum import unique + >>> @unique + ... class Mistake(Enum): + ... __order__ = 'one two three four' # only needed in 2.x + ... one = 1 + ... two = 2 + ... three = 3 + ... four = 3 + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + ValueError: duplicate names found in <enum 'Mistake'>: four -> three + +Iterating over the members of an enum does not provide the aliases:: + + >>> list(Shape) + [<Shape.square: 2>, <Shape.diamond: 1>, <Shape.circle: 3>] + +The special attribute ``__members__`` is a dictionary mapping names to members. +It includes all names defined in the enumeration, including the aliases:: + + >>> for name, member in sorted(Shape.__members__.items()): + ... name, member + ... + ('alias_for_square', <Shape.square: 2>) + ('circle', <Shape.circle: 3>) + ('diamond', <Shape.diamond: 1>) + ('square', <Shape.square: 2>) + +The ``__members__`` attribute can be used for detailed programmatic access to +the enumeration members. For example, finding all the aliases:: + + >>> [name for name, member in Shape.__members__.items() if member.name != name] + ['alias_for_square'] + +Comparisons +----------- + +Enumeration members are compared by identity:: + + >>> Color.red is Color.red + True + >>> Color.red is Color.blue + False + >>> Color.red is not Color.blue + True + +Ordered comparisons between enumeration values are *not* supported. Enum +members are not integers (but see `IntEnum`_ below):: + + >>> Color.red < Color.blue + Traceback (most recent call last): + File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> + TypeError: unorderable types: Color() < Color() + +.. warning:: + + In Python 2 *everything* is ordered, even though the ordering may not + make sense. If you want your enumerations to have a sensible ordering + check out the `OrderedEnum`_ recipe below. + + +Equality comparisons are defined though:: + + >>> Color.blue == Color.red + False + >>> Color.blue != Color.red + True + >>> Color.blue == Color.blue + True + +Comparisons against non-enumeration values will always compare not equal +(again, ``IntEnum`` was explicitly designed to behave differently, see +below):: + + >>> Color.blue == 2 + False + + +Allowed members and attributes of enumerations +---------------------------------------------- + +The examples above use integers for enumeration values. Using integers is +short and handy (and provided by default by the `Functional API`_), but not +strictly enforced. In the vast majority of use-cases, one doesn't care what +the actual value of an enumeration is. But if the value *is* important, +enumerations can have arbitrary values. + +Enumerations are Python classes, and can have methods and special methods as +usual. If we have this enumeration:: + + >>> class Mood(Enum): + ... funky = 1 + ... happy = 3 + ... + ... def describe(self): + ... # self is the member here + ... return self.name, self.value + ... + ... def __str__(self): + ... return 'my custom str! {0}'.format(self.value) + ... + ... @classmethod + ... def favorite_mood(cls): + ... # cls here is the enumeration + ... return cls.happy + +Then:: + + >>> Mood.favorite_mood() + <Mood.happy: 3> + >>> Mood.happy.describe() + ('happy', 3) + >>> str(Mood.funky) + 'my custom str! 1' + +The rules for what is allowed are as follows: _sunder_ names (starting and +ending with a single underscore) are reserved by enum and cannot be used; +all other attributes defined within an enumeration will become members of this +enumeration, with the exception of *__dunder__* names and descriptors (methods +are also descriptors). + +Note: + + If your enumeration defines ``__new__`` and/or ``__init__`` then + whatever value(s) were given to the enum member will be passed into + those methods. See `Planet`_ for an example. + + +Restricted subclassing of enumerations +-------------------------------------- + +Subclassing an enumeration is allowed only if the enumeration does not define +any members. So this is forbidden:: + + >>> class MoreColor(Color): + ... pink = 17 + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + TypeError: Cannot extend enumerations + +But this is allowed:: + + >>> class Foo(Enum): + ... def some_behavior(self): + ... pass + ... + >>> class Bar(Foo): + ... happy = 1 + ... sad = 2 + ... + +Allowing subclassing of enums that define members would lead to a violation of +some important invariants of types and instances. On the other hand, it makes +sense to allow sharing some common behavior between a group of enumerations. +(See `OrderedEnum`_ for an example.) + + +Pickling +-------- + +Enumerations can be pickled and unpickled:: + + >>> from enum.test_enum import Fruit + >>> from pickle import dumps, loads + >>> Fruit.tomato is loads(dumps(Fruit.tomato, 2)) + True + +The usual restrictions for pickling apply: picklable enums must be defined in +the top level of a module, since unpickling requires them to be importable +from that module. + +Note: + + With pickle protocol version 4 (introduced in Python 3.4) it is possible + to easily pickle enums nested in other classes. + + + +Functional API +-------------- + +The ``Enum`` class is callable, providing the following functional API:: + + >>> Animal = Enum('Animal', 'ant bee cat dog') + >>> Animal + <enum 'Animal'> + >>> Animal.ant + <Animal.ant: 1> + >>> Animal.ant.value + 1 + >>> list(Animal) + [<Animal.ant: 1>, <Animal.bee: 2>, <Animal.cat: 3>, <Animal.dog: 4>] + +The semantics of this API resemble ``namedtuple``. The first argument +of the call to ``Enum`` is the name of the enumeration. + +The second argument is the *source* of enumeration member names. It can be a +whitespace-separated string of names, a sequence of names, a sequence of +2-tuples with key/value pairs, or a mapping (e.g. dictionary) of names to +values. The last two options enable assigning arbitrary values to +enumerations; the others auto-assign increasing integers starting with 1. A +new class derived from ``Enum`` is returned. In other words, the above +assignment to ``Animal`` is equivalent to:: + + >>> class Animals(Enum): + ... ant = 1 + ... bee = 2 + ... cat = 3 + ... dog = 4 + +Pickling enums created with the functional API can be tricky as frame stack +implementation details are used to try and figure out which module the +enumeration is being created in (e.g. it will fail if you use a utility +function in separate module, and also may not work on IronPython or Jython). +The solution is to specify the module name explicitly as follows:: + + >>> Animals = Enum('Animals', 'ant bee cat dog', module=__name__) + +Derived Enumerations +-------------------- + +IntEnum +^^^^^^^ + +A variation of ``Enum`` is provided which is also a subclass of +``int``. Members of an ``IntEnum`` can be compared to integers; +by extension, integer enumerations of different types can also be compared +to each other:: + + >>> from enum import IntEnum + >>> class Shape(IntEnum): + ... circle = 1 + ... square = 2 + ... + >>> class Request(IntEnum): + ... post = 1 + ... get = 2 + ... + >>> Shape == 1 + False + >>> Shape.circle == 1 + True + >>> Shape.circle == Request.post + True + +However, they still can't be compared to standard ``Enum`` enumerations:: + + >>> class Shape(IntEnum): + ... circle = 1 + ... square = 2 + ... + >>> class Color(Enum): + ... red = 1 + ... green = 2 + ... + >>> Shape.circle == Color.red + False + +``IntEnum`` values behave like integers in other ways you'd expect:: + + >>> int(Shape.circle) + 1 + >>> ['a', 'b', 'c'][Shape.circle] + 'b' + >>> [i for i in range(Shape.square)] + [0, 1] + +For the vast majority of code, ``Enum`` is strongly recommended, +since ``IntEnum`` breaks some semantic promises of an enumeration (by +being comparable to integers, and thus by transitivity to other +unrelated enumerations). It should be used only in special cases where +there's no other choice; for example, when integer constants are +replaced with enumerations and backwards compatibility is required with code +that still expects integers. + + +Others +^^^^^^ + +While ``IntEnum`` is part of the ``enum`` module, it would be very +simple to implement independently:: + + class IntEnum(int, Enum): + pass + +This demonstrates how similar derived enumerations can be defined; for example +a ``StrEnum`` that mixes in ``str`` instead of ``int``. + +Some rules: + +1. When subclassing ``Enum``, mix-in types must appear before + ``Enum`` itself in the sequence of bases, as in the ``IntEnum`` + example above. +2. While ``Enum`` can have members of any type, once you mix in an + additional type, all the members must have values of that type, e.g. + ``int`` above. This restriction does not apply to mix-ins which only + add methods and don't specify another data type such as ``int`` or + ``str``. +3. When another data type is mixed in, the ``value`` attribute is *not the + same* as the enum member itself, although it is equivalant and will compare + equal. +4. %-style formatting: ``%s`` and ``%r`` call ``Enum``'s ``__str__`` and + ``__repr__`` respectively; other codes (such as ``%i`` or ``%h`` for + IntEnum) treat the enum member as its mixed-in type. + + Note: Prior to Python 3.4 there is a bug in ``str``'s %-formatting: ``int`` + subclasses are printed as strings and not numbers when the ``%d``, ``%i``, + or ``%u`` codes are used. +5. ``str.__format__`` (or ``format``) will use the mixed-in + type's ``__format__``. If the ``Enum``'s ``str`` or + ``repr`` is desired use the ``!s`` or ``!r`` ``str`` format codes. + + +Decorators +---------- + +unique +^^^^^^ + +A ``class`` decorator specifically for enumerations. It searches an +enumeration's ``__members__`` gathering any aliases it finds; if any are +found ``ValueError`` is raised with the details:: + + >>> @unique + ... class NoDupes(Enum): + ... first = 'one' + ... second = 'two' + ... third = 'two' + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + ValueError: duplicate names found in <enum 'NoDupes'>: third -> second + + +Interesting examples +-------------------- + +While ``Enum`` and ``IntEnum`` are expected to cover the majority of +use-cases, they cannot cover them all. Here are recipes for some different +types of enumerations that can be used directly, or as examples for creating +one's own. + + +AutoNumber +^^^^^^^^^^ + +Avoids having to specify the value for each enumeration member:: + + >>> class AutoNumber(Enum): + ... def __new__(cls): + ... value = len(cls.__members__) + 1 + ... obj = object.__new__(cls) + ... obj._value_ = value + ... return obj + ... + >>> class Color(AutoNumber): + ... __order__ = "red green blue" # only needed in 2.x + ... red = () + ... green = () + ... blue = () + ... + >>> Color.green.value == 2 + True + +Note: + + The `__new__` method, if defined, is used during creation of the Enum + members; it is then replaced by Enum's `__new__` which is used after + class creation for lookup of existing members. Due to the way Enums are + supposed to behave, there is no way to customize Enum's `__new__`. + + +UniqueEnum +^^^^^^^^^^ + +Raises an error if a duplicate member name is found instead of creating an +alias:: + + >>> class UniqueEnum(Enum): + ... def __init__(self, *args): + ... cls = self.__class__ + ... if any(self.value == e.value for e in cls): + ... a = self.name + ... e = cls(self.value).name + ... raise ValueError( + ... "aliases not allowed in UniqueEnum: %r --> %r" + ... % (a, e)) + ... + >>> class Color(UniqueEnum): + ... red = 1 + ... green = 2 + ... blue = 3 + ... grene = 2 + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + ValueError: aliases not allowed in UniqueEnum: 'grene' --> 'green' + + +OrderedEnum +^^^^^^^^^^^ + +An ordered enumeration that is not based on ``IntEnum`` and so maintains +the normal ``Enum`` invariants (such as not being comparable to other +enumerations):: + + >>> class OrderedEnum(Enum): + ... def __ge__(self, other): + ... if self.__class__ is other.__class__: + ... return self._value_ >= other._value_ + ... return NotImplemented + ... def __gt__(self, other): + ... if self.__class__ is other.__class__: + ... return self._value_ > other._value_ + ... return NotImplemented + ... def __le__(self, other): + ... if self.__class__ is other.__class__: + ... return self._value_ <= other._value_ + ... return NotImplemented + ... def __lt__(self, other): + ... if self.__class__ is other.__class__: + ... return self._value_ < other._value_ + ... return NotImplemented + ... + >>> class Grade(OrderedEnum): + ... __ordered__ = 'A B C D F' + ... A = 5 + ... B = 4 + ... C = 3 + ... D = 2 + ... F = 1 + ... + >>> Grade.C < Grade.A + True + + +Planet +^^^^^^ + +If ``__new__`` or ``__init__`` is defined the value of the enum member +will be passed to those methods:: + + >>> class Planet(Enum): + ... MERCURY = (3.303e+23, 2.4397e6) + ... VENUS = (4.869e+24, 6.0518e6) + ... EARTH = (5.976e+24, 6.37814e6) + ... MARS = (6.421e+23, 3.3972e6) + ... JUPITER = (1.9e+27, 7.1492e7) + ... SATURN = (5.688e+26, 6.0268e7) + ... URANUS = (8.686e+25, 2.5559e7) + ... NEPTUNE = (1.024e+26, 2.4746e7) + ... def __init__(self, mass, radius): + ... self.mass = mass # in kilograms + ... self.radius = radius # in meters + ... @property + ... def surface_gravity(self): + ... # universal gravitational constant (m3 kg-1 s-2) + ... G = 6.67300E-11 + ... return G * self.mass / (self.radius * self.radius) + ... + >>> Planet.EARTH.value + (5.976e+24, 6378140.0) + >>> Planet.EARTH.surface_gravity + 9.802652743337129 + + +How are Enums different? +------------------------ + +Enums have a custom metaclass that affects many aspects of both derived Enum +classes and their instances (members). + + +Enum Classes +^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The ``EnumMeta`` metaclass is responsible for providing the +``__contains__``, ``__dir__``, ``__iter__`` and other methods that +allow one to do things with an ``Enum`` class that fail on a typical +class, such as ``list(Color)`` or ``some_var in Color``. ``EnumMeta`` is +responsible for ensuring that various other methods on the final ``Enum`` +class are correct (such as ``__new__``, ``__getnewargs__``, +``__str__`` and ``__repr__``) + + +Enum Members (aka instances) +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The most interesting thing about Enum members is that they are singletons. +``EnumMeta`` creates them all while it is creating the ``Enum`` +class itself, and then puts a custom ``__new__`` in place to ensure +that no new ones are ever instantiated by returning only the existing +member instances. + + +Finer Points +^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Enum members are instances of an Enum class, and even though they are +accessible as ``EnumClass.member``, they are not accessible directly from +the member:: + + >>> Color.red + <Color.red: 1> + >>> Color.red.blue + Traceback (most recent call last): + ... + AttributeError: 'Color' object has no attribute 'blue' + +Likewise, ``__members__`` is only available on the class. + +In Python 3.x ``__members__`` is always an ``OrderedDict``, with the order being +the definition order. In Python 2.7 ``__members__`` is an ``OrderedDict`` if +``__order__`` was specified, and a plain ``dict`` otherwise. In all other Python +2.x versions ``__members__`` is a plain ``dict`` even if ``__order__`` was specified +as the ``OrderedDict`` type didn't exist yet. + +If you give your ``Enum`` subclass extra methods, like the `Planet`_ +class above, those methods will show up in a `dir` of the member, +but not of the class:: + + >>> dir(Planet) + ['EARTH', 'JUPITER', 'MARS', 'MERCURY', 'NEPTUNE', 'SATURN', 'URANUS', + 'VENUS', '__class__', '__doc__', '__members__', '__module__'] + >>> dir(Planet.EARTH) + ['__class__', '__doc__', '__module__', 'name', 'surface_gravity', 'value'] + +A ``__new__`` method will only be used for the creation of the +``Enum`` members -- after that it is replaced. This means if you wish to +change how ``Enum`` members are looked up you either have to write a +helper function or a ``classmethod``. |