How do I create a constant in Python? How do I create a constant in Python? python python

How do I create a constant in Python?


No there is not. You cannot declare a variable or value as constant in Python. Just don't change it.

If you are in a class, the equivalent would be:

class Foo(object):    CONST_NAME = "Name"

if not, it is just

CONST_NAME = "Name"

But you might want to have a look at the code snippet Constants in Python by Alex Martelli.


As of Python 3.8, there's a typing.Final variable annotation that will tell static type checkers (like mypy) that your variable shouldn't be reassigned. This is the closest equivalent to Java's final. However, it does not actually prevent reassignment:

from typing import Finala: Final = 1# Executes fine, but mypy will report an error if you run mypy on this:a = 2


There's no const keyword as in other languages, however it is possible to create a Property that has a "getter function" to read the data, but no "setter function" to re-write the data. This essentially protects the identifier from being changed.

Here is an alternative implementation using class property:

Note that the code is far from easy for a reader wondering about constants. See explanation below

def constant(f):    def fset(self, value):        raise TypeError    def fget(self):        return f()    return property(fget, fset)class _Const(object):    @constant    def FOO():        return 0xBAADFACE    @constant    def BAR():        return 0xDEADBEEFCONST = _Const()print CONST.FOO##3131964110CONST.FOO = 0##Traceback (most recent call last):##    ...##    CONST.FOO = 0##TypeError: None

Code Explanation:

  1. Define a function constant that takes an expression, and uses it to construct a "getter" - a function that solely returns the value of the expression.
  2. The setter function raises a TypeError so it's read-only
  3. Use the constant function we just created as a decoration to quickly define read-only properties.

And in some other more old-fashioned way:

(The code is quite tricky, more explanations below)

class _Const(object):    @apply    def FOO():        def fset(self, value):            raise TypeError        def fget(self):            return 0xBAADFACE        return property(**locals())CONST = _Const()print CONST.FOO##3131964110CONST.FOO = 0##Traceback (most recent call last):##    ...##    CONST.FOO = 0##TypeError: None

Note that the @apply decorator seems to be deprecated.

  1. To define the identifier FOO, firs define two functions (fset, fget - the names are at my choice).
  2. Then use the built-in property function to construct an object that can be "set" or "get".
  3. Note hat the property function's first two parameters are named fset and fget.
  4. Use the fact that we chose these very names for our own getter & setter and create a keyword-dictionary using the ** (double asterisk) applied to all the local definitions of that scope to pass parameters to the property function


In Python instead of language enforcing something, people use naming conventions e.g __method for private methods and using _method for protected methods.

So in same manner you can simply declare the constant as all caps e.g.

MY_CONSTANT = "one"

If you want that this constant never changes, you can hook into attribute access and do tricks, but a simpler approach is to declare a function

def MY_CONSTANT():    return "one"

Only problem is everywhere you will have to do MY_CONSTANT(), but again MY_CONSTANT = "one" is the correct way in python(usually).

You can also use namedtuple to create constants:

>>> from collections import namedtuple>>> Constants = namedtuple('Constants', ['pi', 'e'])>>> constants = Constants(3.14, 2.718)>>> constants.pi3.14>>> constants.pi = 3Traceback (most recent call last):  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>AttributeError: can't set attribute