How to get Enum names in Python

Getting Enum names in Python #

Use the name attribute on the enum member to get the name, e.g. Sizes.SMALL.name. If you only have the corresponding value, pass the value to the enumeration class and access the name attribute.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


print(Sizes.SMALL.name)  # 👉️ SMALL

# 👇️ access enum name by value
print(Sizes(1).name)  # 👉️ SMALL

print(Sizes['SMALL'].name)  # 👉️ SMALL

You can use the name and value properties on an enum member to get the enum's name and value.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


print(Sizes.MEDIUM.name)  # 👉️ MEDIUM
print(Sizes.MEDIUM.value)  # 👉️ 2

You can also use square brackets to access enum members.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


name = 'LARGE'

print(Sizes[name].name)  # 👉️ MEDIUM
print(Sizes[name].value)  # 👉️ 2

This is useful when you don't know the name of the enum member ahead of time (because it's read from a file or fetched from an API).

If you only have the value that corresponds to the enum member, pass it to the enumeration class and access the name attribute.

main.py

Copied!
from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


print(Sizes(1).name)  # 👉️ SMALL
print(Sizes(2).name)  # 👉️ MEDIUM
print(Sizes(3).name)  # 👉️ LARGE

You can use a list comprehension if you need to get the list of all of the names in the enum.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


names = [member.name for member in Sizes]
print(names)  # 👉️ ['SMALL', 'MEDIUM', 'LARGE']

values = [member.value for member in Sizes]
print(values)  # 👉️ [1, 2, 3]

List comprehensions are used to perform some operation for every element, or select a subset of elements that meet a condition.

You can use the in operator if you need to check if a specific name or a specific value exists in an enum.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


names = [member.name for member in Sizes]
print(names)  # 👉️ ['SMALL', 'MEDIUM', 'LARGE']

if 'MEDIUM' in names:
    # 👇️ this runs
    print('MEDIUM is in enum')

The in operator tests for membership. For example, x in l evaluates to True if x is a member of l, otherwise it evaluates to False.

You can use a simple for loop if you need to iterate over an enum.

main.py

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from enum import Enum


class Sizes(Enum):
    SMALL = 1
    MEDIUM = 2
    LARGE = 3


for size in Sizes:
    print(size)
    print(size.name, size.value)

How to get Enum names in Python

Getting Enum names in Python #

Borislav Hadzhiev