Python Enumeration

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn about Python enumeration and how to use it effectively.

Introduction to the Python Enumeration

By definition, an enumeration is a set of members that have associated unique constant values. Enumeration is often called enum.

Python provides you with the enum module that contains the Enum type for defining new enumerations. And you define a new enumeration type by subclassing the Enum class.

The following example shows how to create an enumeration called Color:

from enum import Enum class Color(Enum): RED = 1 GREEN = 2 BLUE = 3Code language: Python (python)

How it works.

First, import the Enum type from the enum module:

from enum import EnumCode language: Python (python)

Second, define the Color class that inherits from the Enum type:

class Color(Enum):Code language: Python (python)

Third, define the members of the Color enumeration:

RED = 1 GREEN = 2 BLUE = 3Code language: Python (python)

Note that the enumeration’s members are constants. Therefore, their names are in uppercase letters by convention.

In this example, the Color is an enumeration. The RED, GREEN, and BLUE are members of the Color enumeration. They have associated values 1, 2, and 3.

The type of a member is the enumeration to which it belongs.

The following illustrates that the type of Color.RED is the Color enumeration:

print(type(Color.RED))Code language: Python (python)

Output:

<enum 'Color'>Code language: Python (python)

The Color.RED is also an instance of the Color enumeration:

print(isinstance(Color.RED, Color))Code language: Python (python)

Output:

TrueCode language: Python (python)

And it has the name and value attributes:

print(Color.RED.name) print(Color.RED.value)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

RED 1Code language: Python (python)

Membership and equality

To check if a member is in an enumeration, you use the in operator. For example:

if Color.RED in Color: print('Yes')Code language: Python (python)

Output:

YesCode language: Python (python)

To compare two members, you can use either is or == operator. For example:

if Color.RED is Color.BLUE: print('red is blue') else: print('red is not blue')Code language: Python (python)

Output:

red is not blueCode language: Python (python)

Note that a member and its associated value are not equal. The following example returns False:

if Color.RED == 1: print('Color.RED == 1') else: print('Color.RED != 1')Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Color.RED != 1Code language: Python (python)

Enumeration members are hashable

Enumeration members are always hashable. It means that you can use the enumeration members as keys in a dictionary or as elements of a Set.

The following example uses the members of the Color enumeration in a dictionary:

rgb = { Color.RED: '#ff0000', Color.GREEN: '#00ff00', Color.BLUE: '#0000ff' }Code language: Python (python)

Access an enumeration member by name and value

The typical way to access an enumeration member is to use the dot notation (.) syntax as you have seen so far:Color.REDCode language: Python (python)

Because the Enum implements the __getitem__ method, you can also use a square brackets [] syntax to get a member by its name.

For example, the following uses the square brackets [] syntax to get the RED member of the Color enumeration by its name:

print(Color['RED'])Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Color.REDCode language: Python (python)

Since an enumeration is callable, you can get a member by its value. For example, the following return the RED member of the Color enumeration by its value:

print(Color(1))Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Color.REDCode language: Python (python)

The following expression returns True because it accesses the same enumeration member using name and value:

print(Color['RED'] == Color(1))Code language: Python (python)

Output:

TrueCode language: Python (python)

Iterate enumeration members

Enumerations are iterables so you can iterate them using a for loop. For example:

for color in Color: print(color)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Color.RED Color.GREEN Color.BLUECode language: Python (python)

Notice that the order of the members is the same as in the enumeration definition.

Also, you can use the list() function to return a list of members from an enumeration:

print(list(Color))Code language: Python (python)

Output:

[<Color.RED: 1>, <Color.GREEN: 2>, <Color.BLUE: 3>]Code language: Python (python)

Enumerations are immutable

Enumerations are immutable. It means you cannot add or remove members once an enumeration is defined. And you also cannot change the member values.

The following example attempts to assign a new member to the Color enumeration and causes a TypeError:

Color['YELLOW'] = 4Code language: Python (python)

Error:

TypeError: 'EnumMeta' object does not support item assignmentCode language: Python (python)

The following example attempts the change the value of the RED member of the Color enumeration and causes an AttributeError:

Color.RED.value = 100Code language: Python (python)

Output:

AttributeError: can't set attributeCode language: Python (python)

Inherits from an enumeration

An enumeration cannot be inherited unless it contains no members. The following example works fine because the Color enumeration contains no members:

class Color(Enum): pass class RGB(Color): RED = 1 GREEN = 2 BLUE = 3Code language: Python (python)

However, the following example won’t work because the RGB enumeration has members:

class RGBA(RGB): ALPHA = 4Code language: Python (python)

Error:

TypeError: Cannot extend enumerationsCode language: Python (python)