{"id":78139,"date":"2020-04-08T13:23:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T07:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/?p=78139"},"modified":"2024-08-22T20:26:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T14:56:49","slug":"operator-overloading-in-python","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/operator-overloading-in-python\/","title":{"rendered":"Operator Overloading In Python with Easy Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"

In object-oriented programming, there exists this concept called \u201cPolymorphism\u201d<\/strong>. Polymorphism means \u201cone action, many forms\u201d<\/strong>. OOP allows objects to perform a single<\/strong> action in different<\/strong> ways.<\/p>\n

One way of implementing polymorphism is through operator overloading. Operator overloading lets you define how operators behave with user-defined objects, allowing for more intuitive and readable code. In Python, this is achieved through special methods known as magic methods or dunder methods (double underscore methods).<\/p>\n

In this Python tutorial, we are going to learn what operator overloading is with examples and also explore various magic methods in Python, such as __add__, __sub__, and __eq__, that enable operator overloading.<\/p>\n

This will give you the tools to create classes that interact seamlessly with Python’s built-in operators.<\/p>\n

What is Operator Overloading in Python?<\/h3>\n

Operator overloading is the process of using an operator in different ways depending on the operands. You can change the way an operator in Python works on different data-types.<\/p>\n

A very popular and convenient example is the Addition (+) operator<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Just think how the \u2018+\u2019 operator operates on two numbers and the same operator operates on two strings. It performs \u201cAddition\u201d<\/strong> on numbers whereas it performs \u201cConcatenation\u201d<\/strong> on strings.<\/p>\n

Operators in Python work for built-in<\/strong> classes, like int<\/strong>, str<\/strong>, list<\/strong>, etc. But you can extend their operability<\/strong> such that they work on objects of user-defined classes too.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s try it!<\/p>\n

class bubble:\r\n    def __init__(self, volume):\r\n        self.volume = volume<\/pre>\n
We have defined a class bubble which has an attribute volume<\/strong>. Let\u2019s see what happens when we combine two bubbles. We should get the volume of the combined bubble.<\/p>\n
>>> b1 = bubble(20)\r\n>>> b2 = bubble(30)<\/pre>\n
And now let\u2019s add b1 and b2 to merge the bubbles.<\/p>\n
>>> b1 + b2<\/pre>\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: \u2018bubble\u2019 and \u2018bubble\u2019<\/div>\n
Clearly this doesn\u2019t work right now. That\u2019s because we haven\u2019t extended its operability yet and it only works on built-in<\/strong> classes.<\/p>\n
So how do we make these operators work on our user-defined class bubble as well? This is where \u201cmagic methods\u201d<\/strong> come into the picture.<\/p>\n
Magic methods in Python are special methods that begin and end with a double underscore( __ )<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The __init__()<\/strong> is one such method.<\/p>\n
Another magic method at our disposal is the __str__()<\/strong> method.<\/p>\n
The __str__()<\/strong> method lets you control how an object of your class gets printed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
So if we add this method to our bubble class and print an object of the class, it should work as follows:<\/p>\n
class bubble:\r\n    def __init__(self, volume):\r\n        self.volume = volume\r\n\r\n    def __str__(self):\r\n        return \"volume is \" + str(self.volume)<\/pre>\n
Now do this in the terminal:<\/p>\n
>>> b1 = bubble(20)\r\n>>> print(b1)<\/pre>\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
volume is 20
\n>>><\/div>\n
Overloading \u2018+\u2019 operator<\/h3>\n
Lastly, let\u2019s add the block of code which will make the \u2018+\u2019 operator operate on objects of bubble. Turns out, we have a magic method for this too, i.e., the __add__() method<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
class bubble:\r\n    def __init__(self, volume):\r\n        self.volume = volume\r\n\r\n    def __str__(self):\r\n        return \"volume is \" + str(self.volume)\r\n\r\n    def __add__(self, other):\r\n        volume = self.volume + other.volume\r\n        return bubble(volume)<\/pre>\n
In addition to \u2018self\u2019<\/strong>, the __add__() method takes another argument \u2018other\u2019<\/strong>. The \u2018self\u2019 and \u2018other\u2019 refer to the two objects acting as operands<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
We perform the addition of volumes of \u2018self\u2019 and \u2018other\u2019, and then assign this value to a new variable volume. The method then returns<\/strong> a new object of the class bubble with volume as its instance variable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s create a new object which is the sum of 2 bubbles:<\/p>\n
>>> b1 = bubble(20)\r\n>>> b2 = bubble(30)\r\n>>> b3 = b1 + b2\r\n>>> print(b3)<\/pre>\n
Output:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Volume is 50<\/div>\n
Now we can perform an addition<\/strong> on objects of our class.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see what happens behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
    \n
  • When we add b1 + b2, the interpreter calls b1.__add__(b2).<\/li>\n
  • And b1.__add__(b2) is actually executed as bubble.__add__(b1, b2).<\/li>\n
  • This will then return bubble(50).<\/li>\n
  • So, b3 = b1 + b2 is actually equivalent to b3 = bubble(50).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    In this way, we can overload other operators as well.<\/p>\n
    Note that in the case of comparison operators, the magic method will return a boolean expression<\/strong> as a result of the comparison<\/strong> and not an object<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
    You\u2019ll find various python operators and their magic methods in the table below.<\/p>\n
    Magic methods in Python<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    OPERATOR<\/b><\/td>\nEXPRESSION<\/b><\/td>\nMAGIC METHOD<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Addition<\/span><\/td>\nb1 + b2<\/span><\/td>\n__add__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Subtraction<\/span><\/td>\nb1 – b2<\/span><\/td>\n__sub__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Multiplication<\/span><\/td>\nb1 * b2<\/span><\/td>\n__mul__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Division<\/span><\/td>\nb1 \/ b2<\/span><\/td>\n__truediv__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Power<\/span><\/td>\nb1 ** b2<\/span><\/td>\n__pow__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Floor division<\/span><\/td>\nb1 \/\/ b2<\/span><\/td>\n__floordiv__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Modulo operator<\/span><\/td>\nb1 % b2<\/span><\/td>\n__mod__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise left shift<\/span><\/td>\nb1 << b2<\/span><\/td>\n__lshift__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise right shift<\/span><\/td>\nb1 >> b2<\/span><\/td>\n__rshift__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise NOT<\/span><\/td>\n~b1<\/span><\/td>\n__invert__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise AND<\/span><\/td>\nb1 & b2<\/span><\/td>\n__and__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise OR<\/span><\/td>\nb1 | b2<\/span><\/td>\n__or__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Bitwise XOR<\/span><\/td>\nb1 ^ b2<\/span><\/td>\n__xor__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Less than<\/span><\/td>\nb1 < b2<\/span><\/td>\n__lt__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Less than equal to<\/span><\/td>\nb1 <= b2<\/span><\/td>\n__le__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Greater than<\/span><\/td>\nb1 > b2<\/span><\/td>\n__gt__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Greater than equal to<\/span><\/td>\nb1 >= b2<\/span><\/td>\n__ge__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Equal to<\/span><\/td>\nb1 == b2<\/span><\/td>\n__eq__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Not equal to<\/span><\/td>\nb1 !=\u00a0 b2<\/span><\/td>\n__ne__()<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
    Wrapping up!<\/h3>\n
    In this article, we learned to use a very special power that comes with polymorphism<\/strong> in Python. We learned what is operator overloading<\/strong> in Python. We also learned how we can extend the operability<\/strong> of an operator such that it can work on our user-defined classes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    In object-oriented programming, there exists this concept called \u201cPolymorphism\u201d. Polymorphism means \u201cone action, many forms\u201d. OOP allows objects to perform a single action in different ways. One way of implementing polymorphism is through operator...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1053],"tags":[2373,2374,2375,2376,2377],"class_list":["post-78139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-python","tag-magic-methods-in-python","tag-operator-overloading-in-python","tag-python-magic-methods","tag-python-operator-overloading","tag-python-operator-overloading-examples"],"yoast_head":"\nOperator Overloading In Python with Easy Examples - TechVidvan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is operator overloading in python? 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