CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonclasspython-3.4
Jeetesh Nath
Jeetesh Nath

Reputation: 31

Getting an error when my class contains two __init__ method with default and more parameters

I defined two __init__ methods inside a class as I mentioned in the code snippet

class Employee:
   def __init__(self):
      print('This is init method')

   def __init__(self, workingHrs):
      print('This is init method with parameter')

Now when we use this class

employee = Employee()
employee = Employee(1)

It gives this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File, line 20, in <module>
employee = Employee()
TypeError: __init__() missing 1 required positional argument: 'workingHrs'

My question is, how can I use both __init__ methods with and without parameter except for the self parameter.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 52

Answers (1)

MSeifert
MSeifert

Reputation: 152795

Python doesn't support method overloading so when two methods have the same name the second one will replace the first one.

This can be solved by using an optional argument:

class Employee(object):
   def __init__(self, workingHrs=None):
      if workingHrs is None:
          print('This is init method')
      else:
          print('This is init method with parameter')

You could also use classmethods to "implement" different constructors.

Upvotes: 1

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