In this lesson, you’ll learn about the built-in function dir(). It returns a list of defined names in a namespace. Without arguments, it produces an alphabetically sorted list of names in the current local symbol table:
Python
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help']
>>> spam = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
>>> spam
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help', 'spam']
>>> class Extraclassy():
... pass
...
>>> x = Extraclassy()
>>> dir()
['Extraclassy', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__',
'__package__', '__spec__', 'help', 'spam', 'x']
Note how the first call to dir() above gives several names that are automatically defined and already in the namespace when the interpreter starts. As new names are defined (spam, Extraclassy, x), they appear on subsequent invocations of dir().
This can be useful for identifying what exactly has been added to the namespace by an import statement:
Python
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help']
>>> import mod
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help', 'mod']
>>> mod.s
'Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.'
>>> mod.printy([1, 2, 3])
arg = [1, 2, 3]
>>> from mod import a, Classy
>>> dir()
['Classy', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'a', 'help', 'mod']
>>> a
[100, 200, 300]
>>> y = Classy()
>>> y
<mod.Classy object at 0x1034a5978>
>>> from mod import s as string
>>> dir()
['Classy', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'a', 'help', 'mod', 'string', 'y']
>>> s
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
s
NameError: name 's' is not defined
>>> string
'Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.'
When given an argument that is the name of a module, dir() gives the names defined in the module:
Python
>>> import mod
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help', 'mod']
>>> dir(mod)
['Classy', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__',
'__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'a', 'printy', 's']
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'help', 'mod']
>>> from mod import *
>>> dir()
['Classy', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
'__spec__', 'a', 'help', 'mod', 'printy', 's']
keyurratanghayra on April 14, 2020
Could not be easier than this. Awsome job here, Chris!