Python __repr__ Method

This article introduces the __repr__ method in Python.

The __repr__ method is a special method used inside a class that represents an object of a class in the form of a string. The in-built repr() function is utilized to call the __repr__ method.

The __repr__ method can simply be utilized to produce and define your own string representation of the objects of a class. This method is mainly utilized for debugging in Python.

The syntax for the __repr__ method is as follows:

object.__repr__(self)

We use the keyword self here as the __repr__ method is a special method utilized in enriching classes, and the self keyword represents the instance of the class involved.

The developers tend to generally favor the __repr__ method as it is unambiguous, while the end-users utilize the __str__ method because it is easier to read and understand.

This method can simply get called by the in-built repr() function. Here is an example code that will help make things clearer.

class Employee:
    def __init__(self, name, age):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age

    def __repr__(self):
        rep = "Employee(" + self.name + "," + str(self.age) + ")"
        return rep


emp = Employee("Archie", 19)
print(repr(emp))

The above code provides the following output:

Employee(Archie,19)

As you can see, the function repr() takes in a single parameter, the object of the class.

The repr() function generally only provides the real-time string representation of an object of the class, but it can be overridden with the help of the __repr__ method to make it work differently in a way that the user wants.