decorators in the python standard lib (@deprecated specifically)

Here's some snippet, modified from those cited by Leandro:

import warnings
import functools

def deprecated(func):
    """This is a decorator which can be used to mark functions
    as deprecated. It will result in a warning being emitted
    when the function is used."""
    @functools.wraps(func)
    def new_func(*args, **kwargs):
        warnings.simplefilter('always', DeprecationWarning)  # turn off filter
        warnings.warn("Call to deprecated function {}.".format(func.__name__),
                      category=DeprecationWarning,
                      stacklevel=2)
        warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)  # reset filter
        return func(*args, **kwargs)
    return new_func

# Examples

@deprecated
def some_old_function(x, y):
    return x + y

class SomeClass:
    @deprecated
    def some_old_method(self, x, y):
        return x + y

Because in some interpreters the first solution exposed (without filter handling) may result in a warning suppression.

Here is another solution:

This decorator (a decorator factory in fact) allow you to give a reason message. It is also more useful to help the developer to diagnose the problem by giving the source filename and line number.

EDIT: This code use Zero's recommendation: it replace warnings.warn_explicit line by warnings.warn(msg, category=DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2), which prints the function call site rather than the function definition site. It makes debugging easier.

EDIT2: This version allow the developper to specify an optional "reason" message.

import functools
import inspect
import warnings

string_types = (type(b''), type(u''))


def deprecated(reason):
    """
    This is a decorator which can be used to mark functions
    as deprecated. It will result in a warning being emitted
    when the function is used.
    """

    if isinstance(reason, string_types):

        # The @deprecated is used with a 'reason'.
        #
        # .. code-block:: python
        #
        #    @deprecated("please, use another function")
        #    def old_function(x, y):
        #      pass

        def decorator(func1):

            if inspect.isclass(func1):
                fmt1 = "Call to deprecated class {name} ({reason})."
            else:
                fmt1 = "Call to deprecated function {name} ({reason})."

            @functools.wraps(func1)
            def new_func1(*args, **kwargs):
                warnings.simplefilter('always', DeprecationWarning)
                warnings.warn(
                    fmt1.format(name=func1.__name__, reason=reason),
                    category=DeprecationWarning,
                    stacklevel=2
                )
                warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
                return func1(*args, **kwargs)

            return new_func1

        return decorator

    elif inspect.isclass(reason) or inspect.isfunction(reason):

        # The @deprecated is used without any 'reason'.
        #
        # .. code-block:: python
        #
        #    @deprecated
        #    def old_function(x, y):
        #      pass

        func2 = reason

        if inspect.isclass(func2):
            fmt2 = "Call to deprecated class {name}."
        else:
            fmt2 = "Call to deprecated function {name}."

        @functools.wraps(func2)
        def new_func2(*args, **kwargs):
            warnings.simplefilter('always', DeprecationWarning)
            warnings.warn(
                fmt2.format(name=func2.__name__),
                category=DeprecationWarning,
                stacklevel=2
            )
            warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
            return func2(*args, **kwargs)

        return new_func2

    else:
        raise TypeError(repr(type(reason)))

You can use this decorator for functions, methods and classes.

Here is a simple example:

@deprecated("use another function")
def some_old_function(x, y):
    return x + y


class SomeClass(object):
    @deprecated("use another method")
    def some_old_method(self, x, y):
        return x + y


@deprecated("use another class")
class SomeOldClass(object):
    pass


some_old_function(5, 3)
SomeClass().some_old_method(8, 9)
SomeOldClass()

You'll get:

deprecated_example.py:59: DeprecationWarning: Call to deprecated function or method some_old_function (use another function).
  some_old_function(5, 3)
deprecated_example.py:60: DeprecationWarning: Call to deprecated function or method some_old_method (use another method).
  SomeClass().some_old_method(8, 9)
deprecated_example.py:61: DeprecationWarning: Call to deprecated class SomeOldClass (use another class).
  SomeOldClass()

EDIT3: This decorator is now part of the Deprecated library:

• Python package index (PyPi)
• GitHub website
• Read The Docs
• Twitter

New stable release v1.2.13 🎉

As muon suggested, you can install the deprecation package for this.

The deprecation library provides a deprecated decorator and a fail_if_not_removed decorator for your tests.

Installation

pip install deprecation

Example Usage

import deprecation

@deprecation.deprecated(deprecated_in="1.0", removed_in="2.0",
                        current_version=__version__,
                        details="Use the bar function instead")
def foo():
    """Do some stuff"""
    return 1

See http://deprecation.readthedocs.io/ for the full documentation.

I guess the reason is that Python code can't be processed statically (as it done for C++ compilers), you can't get warning about using some things before actually using it. I don't think that it's a good idea to spam user of your script with a bunch of messages "Warning: this developer of this script is using deprecated API".

Update: but you can create decorator which will transform original function into another. New function will mark/check switch telling that this function was called already and will show message only on turning switch into on state. And/or at exit it may print list of all deprecated functions used in program.

You can create a utils file

import warnings

def deprecated(message):
  def deprecated_decorator(func):
      def deprecated_func(*args, **kwargs):
          warnings.warn("{} is a deprecated function. {}".format(func.__name__, message),
                        category=DeprecationWarning,
                        stacklevel=2)
          warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
          return func(*args, **kwargs)
      return deprecated_func
  return deprecated_decorator

And then import the deprecation decorator as follows:

from .utils import deprecated

@deprecated("Use method yyy instead")
def some_method()"
 pass