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Why does initializing a variable via a python default variable keep state across object instantiation?

Asked 2010-10-08T01:23:24.053
12

I hit an interesting python bug today in which instantiating a class repeatedly appears to be holding state. In later instantiation calls the variable is already defined.

I boiled down the issue into the following class/shell interaction. I realize that this is not the best way to initialize a class variable, but it sure should not be behaving like this. Is this a true bug or is this a "feature"? :D

tester.py:

class Tester():
        def __init__(self):
                self.mydict = self.test()

        def test(self,out={}):
                key = "key"
                for i in ['a','b','c','d']:
                        if key in out:
                                out[key] += ','+i
                        else:   
                                out[key] = i 
                return out

Python prompt:

Python 2.6.6 (r266:84292, Oct  6 2010, 00:44:09) 
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5664)] on darwin
>>> import tester
>>> t = tester.Tester()
>>> print t.mydict
{'key': 'a,b,c,d'}
>>> t2 = tester.Tester()
>>> print t2.mydict
{'key': 'a,b,c,d,a,b,c,d'}
python arguments
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1 Answer

3

You are modifying the value of the function keyword parameter out in your method.

This blog post explains it succintly:

expressions in default arguments are calculated when the function is defined, not when it’s called.

The function is defined when the class is created, not for each instance. If you modify it like so, the problem goes away:

def test(self,out=None):
        if out is None:
                out = {}
        key = "key"
        for i in ['a','b','c','d']:
                if key in out:
                        out[key] += ','+i
                else:   
                        out[key] = i 
        return out
answered 2010-10-08T01:34:39.053

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