How to use python property decorator?

In this lesson, you’ll learn about the Python property decorator, which is a pythonic approach to using getters and setters in object-oriented programming.

The @property decorator is a built-in decorator in Python that allows you to define properties without having to call the inbuilt function property().

So it returns a class’s property attributes from the getter, setter, and deleter parameters.

Here is a simple example of setting and getting properties in python.

# python property decorator example
class ClassName:
   
    def __init__(self, val):
        self.__name = val

    # getter method to get the properties using an object
    def get_name(self):
        return self.__name

    # setter method to set the value 'name' using an object
    def set_name(self, val):
        self.__name = val

There are three methods in the above ClassName (example).

1. __init__ Initialize a class’s attributes or properties.
   • __name:- It is a private attribute.
2. get_name: This function retrieves the values of the private attribute name.
3. set_name: Set the value of the name variable using a class object.

In Python, you can’t directly access the private variables. That’s why you included the getter method in your code.

Here is how the above example is interactive

# python property decorator example
# creating an object
obj = ClassName("Jhon")

# getting the value of 'name' using get_name() method
print(obj.get_name()
#Jhon

# setting a new value to the 'name' using set_name() method
obj.set_name("Doe")
print(obj.get_name())
#Doe

This is how you can implement the private attributes, getters, and setters in Python.
Let’s look at how to use the @property decorator to implement the above class.

# python property decorator example
class ClassName:

    def __init__(self, val):
        self.name = val

    @property
    def name(self):
        return self.__name

    @name.setter
    def name(self, val):
        self.__name = val

We use the @property to get the value of a private attribute without using any getter methods

In front of the method where we return the private variable, we must add a decorator @property.

We use the @method_name.setter in front of the method to set the value of the private variable. It must be used as a setter.

# python property decorator example
    def __get_name(self):
        return self.__name

    def __set_name(self, val):
       self.__name = val

Youtube – The python property decorator

You’ve learned how to use Python to construct encapsulation and the differences between setter, getter, and property.