Difference between dir(…) and vars(…).keys() in Python?

Python objects usually store their instance variables in a dictionary that belongs to the object (except for slots). vars(x) returns this dictionary (as does x.__dict__). dir(x), on the other hand, returns a dictionary of x's "attributes, its class's attributes, and recursively the attributes of its class's base classes."

When you access an object's attribute using the dot operator, Python does a lot more than just look up the attribute in that objects dictionary. A common case is when x is an instance of class C and you call its method m:

class C:
    def m(self):
        print("m")
    
x = C()
x.m()

The method m is not stored in x.__dict__. It is an attribute of the class C.

When you call x.m(), Python will begin by looking for m in x.__dict__, but it won't find it. However, it knows that x is an instance of C, so it will next look in C.__dict__, find it there, and call m with x as the first argument.

So the difference between vars(x) and dir(x) is that dir(x) does the extra work of looking in x's class (and its bases) for attributes that are accessible from it, not just those attributes that are stored in x's own symbol table. In the above example, vars(x) returns an empty dictionary, because x has no instance variables. However, dir(x) returns

['__class__', '__delattr__', '__dict__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', 
'__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', 
'__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__module__', 
'__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', 
'__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', '__weakref__', 
'm']

The documentation has this to say about dir:

Without arguments, return the list of names in the current local scope. With an argument, attempt to return a list of valid attributes for that object.

And this about vars:

Without arguments, return a dictionary corresponding to the current local symbol table. With a module, class or class instance object as argument (or anything else that has a __dict__ attribute), returns a dictionary corresponding to the object’s symbol table.

If you don't see the difference, maybe this will show you more (grouped for easier reading):

>>> dir(list)
['__add__', '__class__', '__class_getitem__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', 
'__delitem__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__', 
'__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', 
'__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', 
'__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', 
'__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__sizeof__', 
'__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 
'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']
>>> vars(list).keys()
dict_keys(['__repr__', 
'__hash__', 
'__getattribute__', 
'__lt__', '__le__', '__eq__', '__ne__', '__gt__', '__ge__', 
'__iter__', 
'__init__', 
'__len__', 
'__getitem__', '__setitem__', '__delitem__', 
'__add__', '__mul__', '__rmul__', '__contains__', '__iadd__', '__imul__', 
'__new__', 
'__reversed__', '__sizeof__', 
'clear', 'copy', 'append', 'insert', 'extend', 'pop', 'remove', 'index', 'count', 'reverse', 'sort', 
'__class_getitem__', 
'__doc__'])

If you don't feel like reading through that, dir includes these attributes while vars does not:

>>> set(dir(list)) - vars(list).keys()
{'__class__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__format__', '__init_subclass__', 
'__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__setattr__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__'}

Note also that dir()'s output is sorted alphabetically, whereas vars()'s output is sorted by the order the attributes were defined in.

Apart from Answers given, I would like to add that, using vars() with instances built-in types will give error, as instances builtin types do not have __dict__ attribute.

eg.

In [96]: vars([])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TypeError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-96-a6cdd8d17b23> in <module>()
      ----> 1 vars([])
TypeError: vars() argument must have __dict__ attribute