How can I make a python dataclass hashable?

Question

I have a dataclass whose instances I want to hash and order, using the id member as a key.

from dataclasses import dataclass, field

@dataclass(eq=True, order=True)
class Category:
    id: str = field(compare=True)
    name: str = field(default="set this in post_init", compare=False)

I know that I can implement __hash__ myself. However, I would like dataclasses to do the work for me because they are intended to handle this.

---

Unfortunately, the above dataclass fails:

a = sorted(list(set([ Category(id='x'), Category(id='y')])))

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: unhashable type: 'Category'

Answer 1

From the docs:

Here are the rules governing implicit creation of a __hash__() method:

[...]

If eq and frozen are both true, by default dataclass() will generate a __hash__() method for you. If eq is true and frozen is false, __hash__() will be set to None, marking it unhashable (which it is, since it is mutable). If eq is false, __hash__() will be left untouched meaning the __hash__() method of the superclass will be used (if the superclass is object, this means it will fall back to id-based hashing).

Since you set eq=True and left frozen at the default (False), your dataclass is unhashable.

You have 3 options:

• Set frozen=True (in combination with the default eq=True), which will make your class immutable and hashable.

  @dataclass(frozen=True)
  

• Set unsafe_hash=True, which will create a __hash__ method but leave your class mutable.

  @dataclass(unsafe_hash=True)
  

  Mutability risks problems if an instance of your class is modified while stored in a dict or set:

  cat = Category('foo', 'bar')
  categories = {cat}
  cat.id = 'baz'
  
  print(cat in categories)  # False
  

• Manually implement a __hash__ method.