Access Django model's fields using a string instead of dot syntax?

In Django, I can do this:

test = Test.objects.get(id=1)
test.name

I want to be able to access the properties using dynamically generated strings, like this:

test['name']

or, any other syntax using a string. I tried

test._meta.get_field_by_name('name')

but this returns the field itself and not the value.

Any ideas?

Solution 1:

You can use python's built in getattr() function:

getattr(test, 'name')

Solution 2:

Assuming name is an attribute on your instance test getattr(test, 'name') should return the corresponding value. Or test.__dict__['name'].

You can read more about getattr() here: http://effbot.org/zone/python-getattr.htm

Solution 3:

Other answers still stand, but now you can do this using Django's _meta.get_field().

test._meta.get_field('name')

Note that the Model _meta API has begun its official support and documentation as of 1.8, but has been distributed and used in prior versions before its official documentation.