Simple example of use of __setstate__ and __getstate__

Here's a very simple example for Python that should supplement the pickle docs.

class Foo(object):
  def __init__(self, val=2):
     self.val = val
  def __getstate__(self):
     print("I'm being pickled")
     self.val *= 2
     return self.__dict__
  def __setstate__(self, d):
     print("I'm being unpickled with these values: " + repr(d))
     self.__dict__ = d
     self.val *= 3

import pickle
f = Foo()
f_data = pickle.dumps(f)
f_new = pickle.loads(f_data)

Output:

I'm being pickled
I'm being unpickled with these values: {'val': 4}

Minimal example

Whatever comes out of getstate, goes into setstate. It does not need to be a dict.

Whatever comes out of getstate must be pickeable, e.g. made up of basic built-ins like int, str, list.

class C(object):
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __getstate__(self):
        return self.i
    def __setstate__(self, i):
        self.i = i
assert pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(C(1), -1)).i == 1

Default __setstate__

The default __setstate__ takes a dict.

self.__dict__ is a good choice as in https://stackoverflow.com/a/1939384/895245 , but we can construct one ourselves to better see what is going on:

class C(object):
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __getstate__(self):
        return {'i': self.i}
assert pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(C(1), -1)).i == 1

Default __getstate__

Analogous to __setstate__.

class C(object):
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __setstate__(self, d):
        self.i = d['i']
assert pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(C(1), -1)).i == 1

__slots__ objects don't have __dict__

If the object has __slots__, then it does not have __dict__

If you are going to implement both get and setstate, the default-ish way is:

class C(object):
    __slots__ = 'i'
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __getsate__(self):
        return { slot: getattr(self, slot) for slot in self.__slots__ }
    def __setsate__(self, d):
        for slot in d:
            setattr(self, slot, d[slot])
assert pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(C(1), -1)).i == 1

__slots__ default get and set expects a tuple

If you want to reuse the default __getstate__ or __setstate__, you will have to pass tuples around as:

class C(object):
    __slots__ = 'i'
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __getsate__(self):
        return (None, { slot: getattr(self, slot) for slot in self.__slots__ })
assert pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(C(1), -1)).i == 1

I'm not sure what this is for.

Inheritance

First see that pickling works by default:

class C(object):
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
class D(C):
    def __init__(self, i, j):
        super(D, self).__init__(i)
        self.j = j
d = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(D(1, 2), -1))
assert d.i == 1
assert d.j == 2

Inheritance custom __getstate__

Without __slots__ it is easy, since the __dict__ for D contains the __dict__ for C, so we don't need to touch C at all:

class C(object):
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
class D(C):
    def __init__(self, i, j):
        super(D, self).__init__(i)
        self.j = j
    def __getstate__(self):
        return self.__dict__
    def __setstate__(self, d):
        self.__dict__ = d
d = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(D(1, 2), -1))
assert d.i == 1
assert d.j == 2

Inheritance and __slots__

With __slots__, we need to forward to the base class, and can pass tuples around:

class C(object):
    __slots__ = 'i'
    def __init__(self, i):
        self.i = i
    def __getstate__(self):
        return { slot: getattr(self, slot) for slot in C.__slots__ }
    def __setstate__(self, d):
        for slot in d:
            setattr(self, slot, d[slot])

class D(C):
    __slots__ = 'j'
    def __init__(self, i, j):
        super(D, self).__init__(i)
        self.j = j
    def __getstate__(self):
        return (
            C.__getstate__(self),
            { slot: getattr(self, slot) for slot in self.__slots__ }
        )
    def __setstate__(self, ds):
        C.__setstate__(self, ds[0])
        d = ds[1]
        for slot in d:
            setattr(self, slot, d[slot])

d = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(D(1, 2), -1))
assert d.i == 1
assert d.j == 2

Unfortunately it is not possible to reuse the default __getstate__ and __setstate__ of the base: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/python-ideas/QkvOwa1-pHQ we are forced to define them.

Tested on Python 2.7.12. GitHub upstream.

A clarification to @BrainCore's answer. In practice, you probably won't want to modify self inside __getstate__. Instead construct a new object that will get pickled, leaving the original unchanged for further use. Here's what that would look like:

import pickle

class Foo:
    def __init__(self, x:int=2, y:int=3):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y
        self.z = x*y

    def __getstate__(self):
        # Create a copy of __dict__ to modify values and return;
        # you could also construct a new dict (or other object) manually
        out = self.__dict__.copy()
        out["x"] *= 3
        out["y"] *= 10
        # You can remove attributes, but note they will not get set with
        # some default value in __setstate__ automatically; you would need
        # to write a custom __setstate__ method yourself; this might be
        # useful if you have unpicklable objects that need removing, or perhaps
        # an external resource that can be reloaded in __setstate__ instead of
        # pickling inside the stream
        del out["z"]
        return out

    # The default __setstate__ will update Foo's __dict__;
    # so no need for a custom implementation here if __getstate__ returns a dict;
    # Be aware that __init__ is not called by default; Foo.__new__ gets called,
    # and the empty object is modified by __setstate__

f = Foo()
f_str = pickle.dumps(f)
f2 = pickle.loads(f_str)

print("Pre-pickle:", f.x, f.y, hasattr(f,"z"))
print("Post-pickle:", f2.x, f2.y, hasattr(f2,"z"))

These methods are used for controlling how objects are pickled and unpickled by the pickle module. This is usually handled automatically, so unless you need to override how a class is pickled or unpickled you shouldn't need to worry about it.