Type Object Structures

Perhaps one of the most important structures of the Python object system is the structure that defines a new type: the PyTypeObject structure. Type objects can be handled using any of the PyObject_* or PyType_* functions, but do not offer much that’s interesting to most Python applications. These objects are fundamental to how objects behave, so they are very important to the interpreter itself and to any extension module that implements new types.

Type objects are fairly large compared to most of the standard types. The reason for the size is that each type object stores a large number of values, mostly C function pointers, each of which implements a small part of the type’s functionality. The fields of the type object are examined in detail in this section. The fields will be described in the order in which they occur in the structure.

In addition to the following quick reference, the Examples section provides at-a-glance insight into the meaning and use of PyTypeObject.

Quick Reference

“tp slots”

PyTypeObject Slot [1]	Type	special methods/attrs	Info [2]
			O	T	D	I
<R> tp_name	const char *	__name__	X	X
tp_basicsize	Py_ssize_t		X	X		X
tp_itemsize	Py_ssize_t			X		X
tp_dealloc	destructor		X	X		X
tp_vectorcall_offset	Py_ssize_t			X		X
(tp_getattr)	getattrfunc	__getattribute__, __getattr__				G
(tp_setattr)	setattrfunc	__setattr__, __delattr__				G
tp_as_async	PyAsyncMethods *	sub-slots				%
tp_repr	reprfunc	__repr__	X	X		X
tp_as_number	PyNumberMethods *	sub-slots				%
tp_as_sequence	PySequenceMethods *	sub-slots				%
tp_as_mapping	PyMappingMethods *	sub-slots				%
tp_hash	hashfunc	__hash__	X			G
tp_call	ternaryfunc	__call__		X		X
tp_str	reprfunc	__str__	X			X
tp_getattro	getattrofunc	__getattribute__, __getattr__	X	X		G
tp_setattro	setattrofunc	__setattr__, __delattr__	X	X		G
tp_as_buffer	PyBufferProcs *	sub-slots				%
tp_flags	unsigned long		X	X		?
tp_doc	const char *	__doc__	X	X
tp_traverse	traverseproc			X		G
tp_clear	inquiry			X		G
tp_richcompare	richcmpfunc	__lt__, __le__, __eq__, __ne__, __gt__, __ge__	X			G
(tp_weaklistoffset)	Py_ssize_t			X		?
tp_iter	getiterfunc	__iter__				X
tp_iternext	iternextfunc	__next__				X
tp_methods	PyMethodDef []		X	X
tp_members	PyMemberDef []			X
tp_getset	PyGetSetDef []		X	X
tp_base	PyTypeObject *	__base__			X