Protected attributes in Python

Question

Let's say I have this class in my module:

class Person:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self._name = name

So I have in my class a protected attribute called _name but I'm still able to call this attribute like this:

p = Person('Felipe')
print(p._name)

Why? Shouldn't protected attributes be protected from direct access outside their class or subclasses?

No, I'm not. I'm trying to understand WHY Python let me access protected attributes outside their class and subclasses like that — flpn, Jul 05 '17 at 18:22

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '17 at 18:23

@coldspeed got it right. You need a name which starts with a double underscore if you want Python apply the "mangling" to names: it basically changes the variable name and makes it not accessible from outside.

See here and this is the official python doc

And don't forge this is Python, non Java.

Protected attributes in Python

1 Answers1