Access modifiers in Python | Basics

Python has Public, Protected, and Private access modifiers. Access modifiers are used to restrict access to the variables and methods of the class.

Examples of access modifiers in Python

Simple example code.

Public Access Modifier:

Public members (generally methods declared in a class) are accessible from outside the class. If you don’t define an access modifier then By default, all members are public in class.

Example public member accessed from outside the class environment.

class Student:
    schoolName = 'Global School'  # class attribute

    def __init__(self, name, age):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age

    # public member function
    def get_age(self):
        print("Age: ", self.age)


std = Student("John", 21)
print(std.schoolName)
print(std.name)
std.get_age()

Output:

Protected Access Modifier:

The members declared as Protected are accessible from outside the class but only in a class derived from it that is in the child or subclass.

Use the underscore ‘_’ symbol before the data member to make it a protected member of the class.

class Student:
    # protected data members
    _name = None
    _roll = None
    _age = None

    # constructor
    def __init__(self, name, roll, age):
        self._name = name
        self._roll = roll
        self._age = age

    # protected member function
    def _display(self):
        # accessing protected data members
        print("Roll: ", self._roll)
        print("Age: ", self._age)


# derived class
class Stu(Student):

    # constructor
    def __init__(self, name, roll, branch):
        Student.__init__(self, name, roll, branch)

    # public member function
    def displayDetails(self):
        # accessing protected data members of super class
        print("Name: ", self._name)

        # accessing protected member functions of super class
        self._display()


# creating objects of the derived class
obj = Stu("Jimmy", 123456, 21)

# calling public member functions of the class
obj.displayDetails()

Output:

Name: Jimmy
Roll: 123456
Age: 21

Private Access Modifier:

These members are only accessible from within the class. It can’t Access outside. You can declare private members by adding a double underscore ‘__’ symbol before the data member of that class.

class Student:
    # protected data members
    __name = None
    __roll = None
    __age = None

    # constructor
    def __init__(self, name, roll, age):
        self.__name = name
        self.__roll = roll
        self.__age = age

    # protected member function
    def __display(self):
        # accessing protected data members
        print("Roll: ", self.__roll)
        print("Age: ", self.__age)

    # public member function
    def get_display(self):
        # Access private member function
        self.__display()


# creating object
obj = Student("Mike", 123456, 15)

# calling public member function of the class
obj.get_display()

Output:

Roll: 123456
Age: 15

Do comment if you have any doubts or suggestions on this Python basic tutorial.

Note: IDE: PyCharm 2021.3.3 (Community Edition)

Windows 10

Python 3.10.1

All Python Examples are in Python 3, so Maybe its different from python 2 or upgraded versions.