[python] super() raises "TypeError: must be type, not classobj" for new-style class

The following use of super() raises a TypeError: why?

>>> from  HTMLParser import HTMLParser
>>> class TextParser(HTMLParser):
...     def __init__(self):
...         super(TextParser, self).__init__()
...         self.all_data = []
...         
>>> TextParser()
(...)
TypeError: must be type, not classobj

There is a similar question on StackOverflow: Python super() raises TypeError, where the error is explained by the fact that the user class is not a new-style class. However, the class above is a new-style class, as it inherits from object:

>>> isinstance(HTMLParser(), object)
True

What am I missing? How can I use super(), here?

Using HTMLParser.__init__(self) instead of super(TextParser, self).__init__() would work, but I would like to understand the TypeError.

PS: Joachim pointed out that being a new-style-class instance is not equivalent to being an object. I read the opposite many times, hence my confusion (example of new-style class instance test based on object instance test: https://stackoverflow.com/revisions/2655651/3).

FWIW and though I'm no Python guru I got by with this

>>> class TextParser(HTMLParser):
...    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
...        if tag == "b":
...            self.all_data.append("bold")
...        else:
...            self.all_data.append("other")
...     
...         
>>> p = TextParser()
>>> p.all_data = []
>>> p.feed(text)
>>> print p.all_data
(...)

Just got me the parse results back as needed.

You can also use class TextParser(HTMLParser, object):. This makes TextParser a new-style class, and super() can be used.

If you look at the inheritance tree (in version 2.6), HTMLParser inherits from SGMLParser which inherits from ParserBase which doesn't inherits from object. I.e. HTMLParser is an old-style class.

About your checking with isinstance, I did a quick test in ipython:

In [1]: class A:
   ...:     pass
   ...: 

In [2]: isinstance(A, object)
Out[2]: True

Even if a class is old-style class, it's still an instance of object.

the correct way to do will be as following in the old-style classes which doesn't inherit from 'object'

class A:
    def foo(self):
        return "Hi there"

class B(A):
    def foo(self, name):
        return A.foo(self) + name

super() can be used only in the new-style classes, which means the root class needs to inherit from the 'object' class.

For example, the top class need to be like this:

class SomeClass(object):
    def __init__(self):
        ....

not

class SomeClass():
    def __init__(self):
        ....

So, the solution is that call the parent's init method directly, like this way:

class TextParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        HTMLParser.__init__(self)
        self.all_data = []

The problem is that super needs an object as an ancestor:

>>> class oldstyle:
...     def __init__(self): self.os = True

>>> class myclass(oldstyle):
...     def __init__(self): super(myclass, self).__init__()

>>> myclass()
TypeError: must be type, not classobj

On closer examination one finds:

>>> type(myclass)
classobj

But:

>>> class newstyle(object): pass

>>> type(newstyle)
type    

So the solution to your problem would be to inherit from object as well as from HTMLParser. But make sure object comes last in the classes MRO:

>>> class myclass(oldstyle, object):
...     def __init__(self): super(myclass, self).__init__()

>>> myclass().os
True