What is the best way of implementing singleton in Python

Question

This question is not for the discussion of whether or not the singleton design pattern is desirable, is an anti-pattern, or for any religious wars, but to discuss how this pattern is best implemented in Python in such a way that is most pythonic. In this instance I define 'most pythonic' to mean that it follows the 'principle of least astonishment'.

I have multiple classes which would become singletons (my use-case is for a logger, but this is not important). I do not wish to clutter several classes with added gumph when I can simply inherit or decorate.

Best methods:

---

Method 1: A decorator

def singleton(class_):
    instances = {}
    def getinstance(*args, **kwargs):
        if class_ not in instances:
            instances[class_] = class_(*args, **kwargs)
        return instances[class_]
    return getinstance

@singleton
class MyClass(BaseClass):
    pass

Pros

• Decorators are additive in a way that is often more intuitive than multiple inheritance.

Cons

• While objects created using MyClass() would be true singleton objects, MyClass itself is a function, not a class, so you cannot call class methods from it. Also for

  x = MyClass();
  y = MyClass();
  t = type(n)();
  

then x == y but x != t && y != t

---

Method 2: A base class

class Singleton(object):
    _instance = None
    def __new__(class_, *args, **kwargs):
        if not isinstance(class_._instance, class_):
            class_._instance = object.__new__(class_, *args, **kwargs)
        return class_._instance

class MyClass(Singleton, BaseClass):
    pass

Pros

• It's a true class

Cons

• Multiple inheritance - eugh! __new__ could be overwritten during inheritance from a second base class? One has to think more than is necessary.

---

Method 3: A metaclass

class Singleton(type):
    _instances = {}
    def __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        if cls not in cls._instances:
            cls._instances[cls] = super(Singleton, cls).__call__(*args, **kwargs)
        return cls._instances[cls]

#Python2
class MyClass(BaseClass):
    __metaclass__ = Singleton

#Python3
class MyClass(BaseClass, metaclass=Singleton):
    pass

Pros

• It's a true class
• Auto-magically covers inheritance
• Uses __metaclass__ for its proper purpose (and made me aware of it)

Cons

• Are there any?

---

Method 4: decorator returning a class with the same name

def singleton(class_):
    class class_w(class_):
        _instance = None
        def __new__(class_, *args, **kwargs):
            if class_w._instance is None:
                class_w._instance = super(class_w,
                                    class_).__new__(class_,
                                                    *args,
                                                    **kwargs)
                class_w._instance._sealed = False
            return class_w._instance
        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
            if self._sealed:
                return
            super(class_w, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
            self._sealed = True
    class_w.__name__ = class_.__name__
    return class_w

@singleton
class MyClass(BaseClass):
    pass

Pros

• It's a true class
• Auto-magically covers inheritance

Cons

• Is there not an overhead for creating each new class? Here we are creating two classes for each class we wish to make a singleton. While this is fine in my case, I worry that this might not scale. Of course there is a matter of debate as to whether it aught to be too easy to scale this pattern...
• What is the point of the _sealed attribute
• Can't call methods of the same name on base classes using super() because they will recurse. This means you can't customize __new__ and can't subclass a class that needs you to call up to __init__.

---

Method 5: a module

a module file singleton.py

Pros

• Simple is better than complex

Cons

• Not lazily instantiated

Answer 1

You just need a decorator, different depending on the python version.

Notice how foo gets printed only once.

---

Python 3.2+

Implementation:

from functools import lru_cache

@lru_cache(maxsize=None)
class CustomClass(object):

    def __init__(self, arg):
        print(f"CustomClass initialised with {arg}")
        self.arg = arg

Usage

c1 = CustomClass("foo")
c2 = CustomClass("foo")
c3 = CustomClass("bar")

print(c1 == c2)
print(c1 == c3)

Output

>>> CustomClass initialised with foo
>>> CustomClass initialised with bar
>>> True
>>> False

---

Python 3.9+

Implementation:

from functools import cache

@cache
class CustomClass(object):
    ...