Inspect Module in Python

The inspect module in Python is useful for examining objects in your code. Since Python is an object-oriented language, this module helps inspect modules, functions and other objects to better understand their structure. It also allows for detailed analysis of function calls and tracebacks, making debugging easier. The module provides methods for verifying the type of an object and retrieving its source, with common methods categorized accordingly.

Methods to Verify the Type of Token

Inspect module offers methods to verify the type of an object, such as checking if it’s a class, module, function, or method. These tools help with introspection and understanding objects in your code.

Example 1: In this example, we are checking whether a given object is a class or not. We define a simple class A and then pass it to inspect.isclass(). If the passed object is indeed a class, the method returns True.

import inspect

class A:
    pass

print(inspect.isclass(A))

True

Example 2: In this example, we are checking whether a given object is a module or not. We import the numpy module and then pass it to inspect.ismodule(). If the object passed is a module, the method returns True.

import inspect
import numpy

print(inspect.ismodule(numpy)) 

True

Example 3: In this example, we check if an object is a user-defined function. The function fun returns double the input. Passing it to isfunction() returns True since it’s a valid function.

import inspect

def fun(a):
    return 2 * a

print(inspect.isfunction(fun))

True

Example 4: In this example, we use inspect.ismethod() to check if collections.Counter is a method. Since Counter is a class and not a method, ismethod() returns False.

import inspect
import collections

print(inspect.ismethod(collections.Counter))

False

Methods to Retrieve the Source of Token

Inspect module also provides methods to retrieve the source of an object, such as inspecting class hierarchies, member functions, or function signatures. These tools help you understand the structure and source details of objects in your code.

Example 1: In this example, we inspect the class hierarchy of C, which inherits from B and B inherits from A. We use inspect.getmro(C) to get the method resolution order and pass it to inspect.getclasstree() to get a structured inheritance tree.

import inspect

class A: pass
class B(A): pass
class C(B): pass

t = inspect.getclasstree(inspect.getmro(C))
for i in t:
    print(i)

(<class 'object'>, ())
[(<class '__main__.A'>, (<class 'object'>,)), [(<class '__main__.B'>, (<class '__main__.A'>,)), [(<class '__main__.C'>, (<class '__main__.B'>,))]]]

Example 2: In this example, we use inspect.getmembers() to fetch members of the math module and print the names and types of the first five.

import inspect
import math

for n, m in inspect.getmembers(math)[:5]:
    print(n, type(m))

__doc__ <class 'str'>
__file__ <class 'str'>
__loader__ <class '_frozen_importlib_external.ExtensionFileLoader'>
__name__ <class 'str'>
__package__ <class 'str'>

Example 3: In this example, we use inspect.signature() to get the signature of the greet function, showing its parameters and default values.

import inspect

def greet(name, age=18):
    return f"Hello {name}, age {age}"

s = inspect.signature(greet)
print(s)

(name, age=18)

Example 4: In this example, we use inspect.stack() to retrieve the current call stack. We then print the function names and line numbers of the top two stack frames.

import inspect

def test():
    stk = inspect.stack()
    for f in stk[:2]:  # Showing top 2 stack frames
        print(f"Function: {f.function}, Line No: {f.lineno}")

test()

Function: test, Line No: 4
Function: <module>, Line No: 8

Example 5: In this example, we use inspect.getmodule() to retrieve the module that the math.sin function belongs to. We then print the name of the module using m.__name__.

import inspect
import math

m = inspect.getmodule(math.sin)
print(m.__name__)

math

Example 6: In this example, we use inspect.getdoc() to fetch the docstring of the fun function, which describes its purpose returning the product of x and y.

import inspect

def fun(x, y):
    """Returns the product of x and y."""
    return x * y

print(inspect.getdoc(fun))

Returns the product of x and y.