How to get a function name as a string?

Solution 1:

my_function.__name__

Using __name__ is the preferred method as it applies uniformly. Unlike func_name, it works on built-in functions as well:

>>> import time
>>> time.time.func_name
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
AttributeError: 'builtin_function_or_method' object has no attribute 'func_name'
>>> time.time.__name__ 
'time'

Also the double underscores indicate to the reader this is a special attribute. As a bonus, classes and modules have a __name__ attribute too, so you only have remember one special name.

Solution 2:

To get the current function's or method's name from inside it, consider:

import inspect

this_function_name = inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name

sys._getframe also works instead of inspect.currentframe although the latter avoids accessing a private function.

To get the calling function's name instead, consider f_back as in inspect.currentframe().f_back.f_code.co_name.

If also using mypy, it can complain that:

error: Item "None" of "Optional[FrameType]" has no attribute "f_code"

To suppress the above error, consider:

import inspect
import types
from typing import cast

this_function_name = cast(types.FrameType, inspect.currentframe()).f_code.co_name

Solution 3:

my_function.func_name

There are also other fun properties of functions. Type dir(func_name) to list them. func_name.func_code.co_code is the compiled function, stored as a string.

import dis
dis.dis(my_function)

will display the code in almost human readable format. :)

Solution 4:

If you're interested in class methods too, Python 3.3+ has __qualname__ in addition to __name__.

def my_function():
    pass

class MyClass(object):
    def method(self):
        pass

print(my_function.__name__)         # gives "my_function"
print(MyClass.method.__name__)      # gives "method"

print(my_function.__qualname__)     # gives "my_function"
print(MyClass.method.__qualname__)  # gives "MyClass.method"