Convert string to Enum in Python
PythonStringSerializationEnumsType ConversionPython Problem Overview
I wonder what's the correct way of converting (deserializing) a string to a Python's Enum class. Seems like getattr(YourEnumType, str) does the job, but I'm not sure if it's safe enough.
Just to be more specific, I would like to convert a 'debug'string to an Enum object like this:
class BuildType(Enum):
debug = 200
release = 400
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
This functionality is already built in to Enum [1]:
>>> from enum import Enum
>>> class Build(Enum):
... debug = 200
... build = 400
...
>>> Build['debug']
<Build.debug: 200>
The member names are case sensitive, so if user-input is being converted you need to make sure case matches:
an_enum = input('Which type of build?')
build_type = Build[an_enum.lower()]
[1] Official docs: Enum programmatic access
Solution 2 - Python
Another alternative (especially useful if your strings don't map 1-1 to your enum cases) is to add a staticmethod to your Enum, e.g.:
class QuestionType(enum.Enum):
MULTI_SELECT = "multi"
SINGLE_SELECT = "single"
@staticmethod
def from_str(label):
if label in ('single', 'singleSelect'):
return QuestionType.SINGLE_SELECT
elif label in ('multi', 'multiSelect'):
return QuestionType.MULTI_SELECT
else:
raise NotImplementedError
Then you can do question_type = QuestionType.from_str('singleSelect')
Solution 3 - Python
My Java-like solution to the problem. Hope it helps someone...
from enum import Enum, auto
class SignInMethod(Enum):
EMAIL = auto(),
GOOGLE = auto()
@classmethod
def value_of(cls, value):
for k, v in cls.__members__.items():
if k == value:
return v
else:
raise ValueError(f"'{cls.__name__}' enum not found for '{value}'")
sim = SignInMethod.value_of('EMAIL')
assert sim == SignInMethod.EMAIL
assert sim.name == 'EMAIL'
assert isinstance(sim, SignInMethod)
# SignInMethod.value_of("invalid sign-in method") # should raise `ValueError`
Solution 4 - Python
def custom_enum(typename, items_dict):
class_definition = """
from enum import Enum
class {}(Enum):
{}""".format(typename, '\n '.join(['{} = {}'.format(k, v) for k, v in items_dict.items()]))
namespace = dict(__name__='enum_%s' % typename)
exec(class_definition, namespace)
result = namespace[typename]
result._source = class_definition
return result
MyEnum = custom_enum('MyEnum', {'a': 123, 'b': 321})
print(MyEnum.a, MyEnum.b)
Or do you need to convert string to known Enum?
class MyEnum(Enum):
a = 'aaa'
b = 123
print(MyEnum('aaa'), MyEnum(123))
Or:
class BuildType(Enum):
debug = 200
release = 400
print(BuildType.__dict__['debug'])
print(eval('BuildType.debug'))
print(type(eval('BuildType.debug')))
print(eval(BuildType.__name__ + '.debug')) # for work with code refactoring
Solution 5 - Python
An improvement to the answer of @rogueleaderr :
class QuestionType(enum.Enum):
MULTI_SELECT = "multi"
SINGLE_SELECT = "single"
@classmethod
def from_str(cls, label):
if label in ('single', 'singleSelect'):
return cls.SINGLE_SELECT
elif label in ('multi', 'multiSelect'):
return cls.MULTI_SELECT
else:
raise NotImplementedError
Solution 6 - Python
Since MyEnum['dontexist'] will result in error KeyError: 'dontexist', you might like to fail silently (eg. return None). In such case you can use the following static method:
class Statuses(enum.Enum):
Unassigned = 1
Assigned = 2
@staticmethod
def from_str(text):
statuses = [status for status in dir(
Statuses) if not status.startswith('_')]
if text in statuses:
return getattr(Statuses, text)
return None
Statuses.from_str('Unassigned')
Solution 7 - Python
Change your class signature to this:
class BuildType(str, Enum):
Solution 8 - Python
I just want to notify this does not work in python 3.6
class MyEnum(Enum):
a = 'aaa'
b = 123
print(MyEnum('aaa'), MyEnum(123))
You will have to give the data as a tuple like this
MyEnum(('aaa',))
EDIT: This turns out to be false. Credits to a commenter for pointing out my mistake