Contents of Objects in Python

Lately, I've been programming a lot in Python which has proven to be quite enlightening for me. My method of learning a new programming language has been to solve a problem through software and learn syntax, functions and layout on my journey. Normally, I'd look at pre-existing libraries or even source code in that language to get an idea of the things that are available. Python was no different, but to aid my learning, I chose to use an Interactive interface to Python: iPython.

One thing always puzzled me: if I created an object, say, myObject as instance A (that is to say A = myObject()), if I typed in A, how could I control the output without viewing something like <instance 'myObject' object at 0xlocation> but instead show something more useful?

Nowhere could I find it explicitly written although now I know what to look for, I see documentation on this. When calling A in either iPython or Python, the interpreter looks for A.__repr__() to display some useful information. I took the opportunity to display a summary of the data contained by the object. This is done by returning a string object (or str in Python) when creating the class. Likewise, if I were to write print A, Python would first look for A.__str__() and, if it was undefined, reverts to returning A.__repr__(). Thus, it is sometimes useful to display more information in the __repr__() call and leave the __str__() for minimalist information (although this will depend on the application). For example:

class myObject:
    def __init__(self, contents):
        self.contents = contents

    def __repr__(self):
        return "Contents of container: " + str(self.contents)

    def __str__(self):
        return str(self.contents)

Indeed, one may notice the difference between the __repr__() function of a NumPy array call and one from __str__(): the former including the words "array" at the start and encloses the output from the __str__() function call.