Python: Calling a class based on variable's value

Question

Essentially what I want this code to do, is replace (systemType).clear() with either unix.clear or windows.clear. Is this even possible?

if(platform.system()=="Windows"):
    systemType="windows"
else:
    systemType="unix"

class unix:
    def clear():
        os.system('clear')

class windows:
    def clear():
        os.system('cls')


print("Detecing systemType")
time.sleep(1)
(systemType).clear()

The error is AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'clear'

os.system('cls') if 'windows' in platform.system().lower() else os.system('clear') — felipsmartins
– felipsmartins, Commented Jul 17, 2015 at 19:08

jwodder · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-17 18:58:03Z

6

If you move the assignment of systemType to after the class definitions, you can assign it the classes themselves rather than their names:

class unix:
    def clear():
        os.system('clear')

class windows:
    def clear():
        os.system('cls')

if platform.system()=="Windows":
    systemType = windows
else:
    systemType = unix

print("Detecing systemType")
time.sleep(1)
systemType.clear()

answered Jul 17, 2015 at 18:58

jwodder

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Comments

Teo · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-17 19:00:26Z

0

import os
if os.name == "nt":
     os.system("cls") #windows
else:
     os.system("clear") #unix

answered Jul 17, 2015 at 19:00

Teo

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1 Comment

Evan Young Over a year ago

This works, however I wanted an easy way to add functions to execute based on the operating system. Not just a cluster of if statements in one function.

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