How To Change Class Representation When The Class Is A Dictionary's Key?

Consider the following code: class DummyClass: def __init__(self, name): self.name = name obj_1 = DummyClass('name_1') obj_2 = DummyClass('name_2') my_dict = {

Solution 1:

The __repr__ method is used to generate the string that dict uses to display the keys. There is no mechanism to modify the key during dict creation or update, and no dict-specific way to modify how the key is displayed.

By default, DummyClass is inheriting its __repr__ method from object, which is what produces the <...> string. Override __repr__ to return a string built from the name attribute.

classDummyClass:def__init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def__repr__(self):
        return f"'{self.name}'"

---

There was a proposal to create a key-transforming dictionary, but it was rejected. It would have allowed you to write something like

d = TransformDict(lambda x: x.name)
d[obj_1] = ...
d[obj_2] = ...

and the resulting dict would behave as if 'name1' and 'name2' were the keys (while still allowing access to the original keys obj_1 and obj_2 if necessary).