[python] How to create a new instance from a class object in Python

I need to dynamically create an instance of a class in Python. Basically I am using the load_module and inspect module to import and load the class into a class object, but I can't figure out how to create an instance of this class object.

Please help!

This is how you can dynamically create a class named Child in your code, assuming Parent already exists... even if you don't have an explicit Parent class, you could use object...

The code below defines __init__() and then associates it with the class.

>>> child_name = "Child"
>>> child_parents = (Parent,)
>>> child body = """
def __init__(self, arg1):
    # Initialization for the Child class
    self.foo = do_something(arg1)
"""
>>> child_dict = {}
>>> exec(child_body, globals(), child_dict)
>>> childobj = type(child_name, child_parents, child_dict)
>>> childobj.__name__
'Child'
>>> childobj.__bases__
(<type 'object'>,)
>>> # Instantiating the new Child object...
>>> childinst = childobj()
>>> childinst
<__main__.Child object at 0x1c91710>
>>>

I figured out the answer to the question I had that brought me to this page. Since no one has actually suggested the answer to my question, I thought I'd post it.

class k:
  pass

a = k()
k2 = a.__class__
a2 = k2()

At this point, a and a2 are both instances of the same class (class k).

Just call the "type" built in using three parameters, like this:

ClassName = type("ClassName", (Base1, Base2,...), classdictionary)

update as stated in the comment bellow this is not the answer to this question at all. I will keep it undeleted, since there are hints some people get here trying to dynamically create classes - which is what the line above does.

To create an object of a class one has a reference too, as put in the accepted answer, one just have to call the class:

instance = ClassObject()

The mechanism for instantiation is thus:

Python does not use the new keyword some languages use - instead it's data model explains the mechanism used to create an instantance of a class when it is called with the same syntax as any other callable:

Its class' __call__ method is invoked (in the case of a class, its class is the "metaclass" - which is usually the built-in type). The normal behavior of this call is to invoke the (pseudo) static __new__ method on the class being instantiated, followed by its __init__. The __new__ method is responsible for allocating memory and such, and normally is done by the __new__ of object which is the class hierarchy root.

So calling ClassObject() invokes ClassObject.__class__.call() (which normally will be type.__call__) this __call__ method will receive ClassObject itself as the first parameter - a Pure Python implementation would be like this: (the cPython version is of course, done in C, and with lots of extra code for cornercases and optimizations)

class type:
    ...
    def __call__(cls, *args, **kw):
          constructor = getattr(cls, "__new__")
          instance = constructor(cls) if constructor is object.__new__ else constructor(cls, *args, **kw)
          instance.__init__(cls, *args, **kw)
          return instance

(I don't recall seeing on the docs the exact justification (or mechanism) for suppressing extra parameters to the root __new__ and passing it to other classes - but it is what happen "in real life" - if object.__new__ is called with any extra parameters it raises a type error - however, any custom implementation of a __new__ will get the extra parameters normally)

If you have a module with a class you want to import, you can do it like this.

module = __import__(filename)
instance = module.MyClass()

If you do not know what the class is named, you can iterate through the classes available from a module.

import inspect
module = __import__(filename)
for c in module.__dict__.values():
    if inspect.isclass(c):
        # You may need do some additional checking to ensure 
        # it's the class you want
        instance = c()