17. Special Method

1. Special Methods

Special methods, also known as magic methods in Python, are methods that have names starting and ending with double underscores (__). These methods are automatically called by the Python interpreter when certain operators or built-in functions are used.

• init : This method is called when an object is created. It is used to initialize the object's attributes.
• str : This method is called when an object is converted to a string. It is used to return a string representation of the object. This is used when the object is printed using the print() function or when the str() function is explicitly called on the object.

 

• add: This method is called when the + operator is used on two objects. It is used to return the sum of the two objects.

 

• len: This method is called when the len() function is used on an object. It is used to return the length of the object.

 

• getitem: This method is called when the indexing operator ([]) is used on an object. It is used to return the element at the specified index of the object.

 

• call: This method is called when an object is called like a function. It is used to implement the functionality of calling the object as a function

 

Additional Special Methods:

• eq(self, other): This method is used to compare two objects for equality.
• lt(self, other): This method is used to compare two objects for their relative size.
• iter(self):This method is used to make an object iterable.