How to retrieve source code of Python functions

Learn to use the inspect and dill libraries to access Python functions' source code.

16 May 2018 Xiaodong DENG Feed

How to retrieve source code of Python functions

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Sometimes we want to know what some functions' source codes look like or where they are, or we need to manipulate the source codes as character strings. In such cases, we need to have a convenient way to retrieve our Python functions' source codes.

There are two Python libraries that may help:

inspect is a built-in standard library
dill is a third-party library

inspect

inspect is a built-in library. It's already there after you install Python on your computer. The inspect module provides several useful functions to help you get information about live objects, such as modules, classes, methods, functions, tracebacks, frame objects, and code objects. Among its many features, its capability to retrieve the source code of functions stands out.

`In [1]:`	import pandas import inspect
`In [3]:`	source_DF = inspect.getsource(pandas.DataFrame) print(type(source_DF)) `<<class 'str'>>`
`In [4]:`	`print(len(source_DF))` `218432`
`In [5]:`	`print(source_DF[:200])` `class DataFrame(NDFrame):` `"""` `Two-dimensional size-mutable, potentially heterogeneous tabular` `data` `structurewith labeled axes (rows and columns). Arithmetic operations align on both row a`
`In [6]:`	source_file_DF = inspect.getsourcefile(pandas.DataFrame) print(source_file_DF) `D:\Users\dengdong\AppData\Local\Continuum\anaconda3\lib\site-packages\pandas\core\frame.py`
`In [7]:`	sourcelines_DF = inspect.getsourcelines(pandas.DataFrame) print(type(sourcelines_DF)) print(len(sourcelines_DF)) print(type(sourcelines_DF[0])) `<class 'tuple'> 2 <class 'list'>`

In IPython or Jupyter, we can also use this method to retrieve the source code of the functions that we defined in the console.

In [9]:

def test(x):



   return x*2



print(inspect.getsource(test))

def test(x): return x*2

In [10]:

print(inspect.getsourcefile(test))

<ipython-input-9-70ac3e17460c>

In [11]:

print(inspect.getsourcelines(test))

(['def test(x):\n', ' return x*2\n'], 1)

Note that retrieving source codes of self-defined functions only works in IPython or Jupyter. If we are using plain Python and define a function interactively, we will encounter error IOError: could not get source code and will not be able to retrieve the source code. This is because its setting only supports objects loaded from files, not interactive sessions.

dill

dill extends Python's pickle module for serializing and deserializing Python objects to the majority of the built-in Python types. At the same time, it can also retrieve the source code of your Python objects. Please note dill is not a standard library, so you must install it separately.

Its API is quite similar to inspect's.

In [6]:

import dill



source_DF = dill.source.getsource(pandas.DataFrame)

print(type(source_DF))

print(len(source_DF))

print(source_DF[:200])



source_file_DF = dill.source.getsourcefile(pandas.DataFrame)

print(source_file_DF)



sourcelines_DF = dill.source.getsourcelines(pandas.DataFrame)

print(type(sourcelines_DF))

print(len(sourcelines_DF))

print(type(sourcelines_DF[0]))



<type 'str'>

195262

class DataFrame(NDFrame):

    """ Two-dimensional size-mutable, potentially heterogeneous tabular data

    structure with labeled axes (rows and columns). Arithmetic operations

    align on both row a

/Users/XD/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pandas/core/frame.py

<type 'tuple'>

2

<type 'list'>

However, a big difference between dill and inspect is that dill's retrieving feature supports self-defined objects in the plain Python console.

Topics

Python

Programming

About the author

Xiaodong DENG - From China and staying in Singapore now. I majored in mathematics during both my bachelor and MSc studies. But then I found dealing with coding is more interesting. Thinking from engineering perspective really helps me a lot. For more information, please refer to my webiste XD-DENG.com.

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