Python built-in Method - getattr()

The getattr() method in Python is a built-in function that returns the value of a named attribute of an object.

The syntax for getattr() is as follows:

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getattr(object, name[, default])

Here, object is the object whose attribute is to be accessed, name is a string representing the name of the attribute, and default is an optional value that is returned if the named attribute is not found.

For example:

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

person = Person("John", 30)

name = getattr(person, "name")
print(name)  # Output: John

salary = getattr(person, "salary", 10000)
print(salary)  # Output: 10000

In the example above, we define a Person class with two attributes name and age. We create an instance of the class called person. We use getattr() to retrieve the value of the name attribute of person and store it in a variable called name. We then print the value of name, which is "John".

We also use getattr() to try to retrieve the value of an attribute called salary of person. Since person does not have a salary attribute, we provide a default value of 10000 which is returned.

getattr() is useful when you want to access an attribute dynamically, based on a string representing the attribute name. This can be especially useful when working with objects whose attributes are not known ahead of time or are generated at runtime.