Decorators with parameters?

The syntax for decorators with arguments is a bit different - the decorator with arguments should return a function that will take a function and return another function. So it should really return a normal decorator. A bit confusing, right? What I mean is:

def decorator_factory(argument):
    def decorator(function):
        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
            funny_stuff()
            something_with_argument(argument)
            result = function(*args, **kwargs)
            more_funny_stuff()
            return result
        return wrapper
    return decorator

Here you can read more on the subject - it's also possible to implement this using callable objects and that is also explained there.

Edit : for an in-depth understanding of the mental model of decorators, take a look at this awesome Pycon Talk. well worth the 30 minutes.

One way of thinking about decorators with arguments is

@decorator
def foo(*args, **kwargs):
    pass

translates to

foo = decorator(foo)

So if the decorator had arguments,

@decorator_with_args(arg)
def foo(*args, **kwargs):
    pass

translates to

foo = decorator_with_args(arg)(foo)

decorator_with_args is a function which accepts a custom argument and which returns the actual decorator (that will be applied to the decorated function).

I use a simple trick with partials to make my decorators easy

from functools import partial

def _pseudo_decor(fun, argument):
    def ret_fun(*args, **kwargs):
        #do stuff here, for eg.
        print ("decorator arg is %s" % str(argument))
        return fun(*args, **kwargs)
    return ret_fun

real_decorator = partial(_pseudo_decor, argument=arg)

@real_decorator
def foo(*args, **kwargs):
    pass

Update:

Above, foo becomes real_decorator(foo)

One effect of decorating a function is that the name foo is overridden upon decorator declaration. foo is "overridden" by whatever is returned by real_decorator. In this case, a new function object.

All of foo's metadata is overridden, notably docstring and function name.

>>> print(foo)
<function _pseudo_decor.<locals>.ret_fun at 0x10666a2f0>

functools.wraps gives us a convenient method to "lift" the docstring and name to the returned function.

from functools import partial, wraps

def _pseudo_decor(fun, argument):
    # magic sauce to lift the name and doc of the function
    @wraps(fun)
    def ret_fun(*args, **kwargs):
        # pre function execution stuff here, for eg.
        print("decorator argument is %s" % str(argument))
        returned_value =  fun(*args, **kwargs)
        # post execution stuff here, for eg.
        print("returned value is %s" % returned_value)
        return returned_value

    return ret_fun

real_decorator1 = partial(_pseudo_decor, argument="some_arg")
real_decorator2 = partial(_pseudo_decor, argument="some_other_arg")

@real_decorator1
def bar(*args, **kwargs):
    pass

>>> print(bar)
<function __main__.bar(*args, **kwargs)>

>>> bar(1,2,3, k="v", x="z")
decorator argument is some_arg
returned value is None

Here is a slightly modified version of t.dubrownik's answer. Why?

1. As a general template, you should return the return value from the original function.
2. This changes the name of the function, which could affect other decorators / code.

So use @functools.wraps():

from functools import wraps

def create_decorator(argument):
    def decorator(function):
        @wraps(function)
        def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
            funny_stuff()
            something_with_argument(argument)
            retval = function(*args, **kwargs)
            more_funny_stuff()
            return retval
        return wrapper
    return decorator