__repr__ is confusing me too much.

Question

class myclass:
def __init__(self):
self.name="Raj"
self.age=21
def __repr__(self):
return {'name':self.name}

obj=myclass()
print(obj.__repr__())#prints without error
print(repr(obj))# gives error saying __repr__ didnot returned a string.
but print(obj.__repr__()) and print(repr(obj)) are exactly same.
why the later one gives error where the former one gives no error.

Answer 1

__repr__ is a method of your object.
You call it by obj.__repr__

Answer 2

https://code.sololearn.com/ca12A14a0a23

Answer 3

Benjamin Jürgens why does not obj.__repr__ does a type check ??
However if it does then both print statements will give error.

Answer 4

kushal there is no type check in your code for __repr__, so it doesn't check. __repr__ is supposed to return a string, which is violated by your code. As you discovered that works fine as long as you use it as a normal method, due to print implicitly converting arguments to string.

But repr is a separate method which calls __repr__ on its argument and checks the type. That's why it doesn't work if you don't return a string

Answer 5

Your __repr__ returns a dictionary

repr(obj) is a call to a method and that merhod does a type check before returning obj.__repr__()

Answer 6

Frogged in line 7 if we replaced str with repr then also the code will work..how ??