Schrödinger's variable: the __class__ cell magically appears if you're checking for its presence?
This is a weird interaction in Python 3's implementation of no-argument super
. An access to super
in a method triggers the addition of a hidden __class__
closure variable referring to the class that defines the method. The parser special-cases a load of the name super
in a method by also adding __class__
to the method's symbol table, and then the rest of the relevant code all looks for __class__
instead of super
. However, if you try to access __class__
yourself, all the code looking for __class__
sees it and thinks it should do the super
handling!
Here's where it adds the name __class__
to the symbol table if it sees super
:
case Name_kind: if (!symtable_add_def(st, e->v.Name.id, e->v.Name.ctx == Load ? USE : DEF_LOCAL)) VISIT_QUIT(st, 0); /* Special-case super: it counts as a use of __class__ */ if (e->v.Name.ctx == Load && st->st_cur->ste_type == FunctionBlock && !PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(e->v.Name.id, "super")) { if (!GET_IDENTIFIER(__class__) || !symtable_add_def(st, __class__, USE)) VISIT_QUIT(st, 0); } break;
Here's drop_class_free
, which sets ste_needs_class_closure
:
static intdrop_class_free(PySTEntryObject *ste, PyObject *free){ int res; if (!GET_IDENTIFIER(__class__)) return 0; res = PySet_Discard(free, __class__); if (res < 0) return 0; if (res) ste->ste_needs_class_closure = 1; return 1;}
The compiler section that checks ste_needs_class_closure
and creates the implicit cell:
if (u->u_ste->ste_needs_class_closure) { /* Cook up an implicit __class__ cell. */ _Py_IDENTIFIER(__class__); PyObject *tuple, *name, *zero; int res; assert(u->u_scope_type == COMPILER_SCOPE_CLASS); assert(PyDict_Size(u->u_cellvars) == 0); name = _PyUnicode_FromId(&PyId___class__); if (!name) { compiler_unit_free(u); return 0; } ...
There's more relevant code, but it's too much to include all of it. Python/compile.c
and Python/symtable.c
are where to look if you want to see more.
You can get some weird bugs if you try to use a variable named __class__
:
class Foo: def f(self): __class__ = 3 super()Foo().f()
Output:
Traceback (most recent call last): File "./prog.py", line 6, in <module> File "./prog.py", line 4, in fRuntimeError: super(): __class__ cell not found
The assignment to __class__
means __class__
is a local variable instead of a closure variable, so the closure cell super()
needs isn't there.
def f(): __class__ = 2 class Foo: def f(self): print(__class__) Foo().f()f()
Output:
<class '__main__.f.<locals>.Foo'>
Even though there's an actual __class__
variable in the enclosing scope, the special-casing of __class__
means you get the class instead of the enclosing scope's variable value.
https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#creating-the-class-object
__class__
is an implicit closure reference created by the compiler if any methods in a class body refer to either__class__
or super. This allows the zero argument form ofsuper()
to correctly identify the class being defined based on lexical scoping, while the class or instance that was used to make the current call is identified based on the first argument passed to the method.