python object() Function

object() is one of Python's built-in functions that returns a new object instance. object is the base class for all classes, meaning all Python classes directly or indirectly inherit from the object class.

class MyClass(object):  # Explicitly inherit from object
    pass

class MyClass:  # Implicitly inherit from object
    pass

The object class is the base class for all classes:

class MyClass:
    pass

# MyClass inherits from the object class
print(isinstance(MyClass, object))  # Output: True

object instances cannot have attributes added, but subclasses of object can:

obj = object()

# obj.x = 123  # AttributeError: 'object' object has no attribute 'x'

class MyObject(object):
    pass

obj = MyObject()
obj.x = 123
print(obj.x)  # 123

All built-in data types inherit from object:

print(isinstance(123.456, object))  # True
print(isinstance("hello", object))  # True
print(isinstance([], object))       # True
print(isinstance({}, object))       # True
print(isinstance((), object))       # True

object provides several special methods that all subclasses will inherit:

for name in dir(object()):
    print(name)

Program Output

__class__
__delattr__
__dir__
__doc__
__eq__
__format__
__ge__
__getattribute__
__getstate__
__gt__
__hash__
__init__
__init_subclass__
__le__
__lt__
__ne__
__new__
__reduce__
__reduce_ex__
__repr__
__setattr__
__sizeof__
__str__
__subclasshook__