How to return a value from __init__ in Python?

Solution 1:

Why would you want to do that?

If you want to return some other object when a class is called, then use the __new__() method:

class MyClass(object):
    def __init__(self):
        print "never called in this case"
    def __new__(cls):
        return 42

obj = MyClass()
print obj

Solution 2:

__init__ is required to return None. You cannot (or at least shouldn't) return something else.

Try making whatever you want to return an instance variable (or function).

>>> class Foo:
...     def __init__(self):
...         return 42
... 
>>> foo = Foo()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: __init__() should return None