Python dir()

number = [12]

# returns valid attributes of the number list 
print(dir(number))

# Output: ['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

dir() Syntax

The syntax of the dir() method is:

dir(object)

dir() Parameters

The dir() method takes in a single parameter:

• object - can be an empty/filled tuple, list, set, dictionary etc or any user-defined object

dir() Return Value

The dir() method returns: .

• the list of attributes of the object passed to the method

Example 1: Python dir() with a List

number1 = [1, 2, 3]

#dir with a filled list
print(dir(number1))

number2 = [ ]

# dir() with an empty list
print(dir(number2))

Output

['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', 
'__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', 
'__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', 
'__iadd__', '__imul__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', 
'__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__',
'__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__', 
'__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', 
'__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 
'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

In the above example, we have used the dir() method which returns all the valid attributes of the list number1 and number2.

Example 2: dir() with a Set

number = {12, 15, 18, 21}

# dir() with a filled set
print(dir(number))

number1 =[ ]

# dir() with an empty set
print(dir(number1))

Output

['__and__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iand__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__ior__', '__isub__', '__iter__', '__ixor__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__or__', '__rand__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__ror__', '__rsub__', '__rxor__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__sub__', '__subclasshook__', '__xor__', 'add', 'clear', 'copy', 'difference', 'difference_update', 'discard', 'intersection', 'intersection_update', 'isdisjoint', 'issubset', 'issuperset', 'pop', 'remove', 'symmetric_difference', 'symmetric_difference_update', 'union', 'update']

['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

In the above example, we have used the dir() method to return all the valid attributes of the set number and number1.

Example 3: dir() with a Tuple

number = (21, 10, 81, 25)
#dir with a filled tuple
print(dir(number))

number1 =[]  
# dir() with an empty tuple
print(dir(number1))

Output

['__and__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iand__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__ior__', '__isub__', '__iter__', '__ixor__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__or__', '__rand__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__ror__', '__rsub__', '__rxor__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__sub__', '__subclasshook__', '__xor__', 'add', 'clear', 'copy', 'difference', 'difference_update', 'discard', 'intersection', 'intersection_update', 'isdisjoint', 'issubset', 'issuperset', 'pop', 'remove', 'symmetric_difference', 'symmetric_difference_update', 'union', 'update']

['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

In the above example, the dir() method returns all the valid attributes of the tuple number and number1.

Example 4: dir() with a User-defined Object

class Person:
  def __dir__(self):
    return ['age', 'name', 'salary']    

teacher = Person()
print(dir(teacher))

Output

['age', 'name', 'salary']

In the above example, we have used the dir() method with a User-defined object Teacher of the class Person.

As we have passed age, name and salary variables to the Person class, the dir() method will return these attributes as the output.

Recommended Readings:

• Python divmod()
• Python frozenset()