Running function object in python

Question

I understood that python functions are objects too and after defining them I stored them in a dictionary but the question is how can I run these stored functions in dictionary? And can I save these functions in a pickle file and use theme later in my codes? Is it possible? An example of storing these functions but the way of running theme... I don't know!

>>> def a():
    print('hello')
>>> b={'a':a}
>>> b['a']
<function a at 0x00000000033AE620>
>>> b['a'].run()

I need some method like run for thisfunction or at least view the function code!

user2555451 · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-22 19:02:39Z

4

Just call it like you would a normal function:

>>> def a():
...     print('hello')
...
>>> b={'a':a}
>>> b['a']
<function a at 0x02192468>
>>> b['a']()
hello
>>>

b['a'] returns the function object, so placing (...) after it will call it just like any other function object.

answered Dec 22, 2013 at 19:02

user2555451

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5 Comments

hamidfzm Over a year ago

Thanks but can I store these functions in a pickle file without a problem?

user1467267 Over a year ago

Yes; they have a resource pointer, and that will always be the same instance as long as the process lives.

user1467267 Over a year ago

Use the inspect library (docs.python.org/2/library/inspect.html?highlight=inspect) :).

user395760 Over a year ago

@HamidFzM Picking functions is a tricky topic. Pickle will store only the qualified name of the function (e.g. mylib.util.add), and unpickling will look it up by that name. Sometimes that's a good thing, but it also has downsides (most importantly, it doesn't work in several advanced use cases). The alternatives (storing the functions's code) are even worse though.

Martijn Pieters Over a year ago

For global functions without closures, using pickle is just fine. A string that'll allow re-importing the name is stored in the pickle, not the code.

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