vars

Get the dictionary of the attributes of an object.

Python 3.13
vars([object])

Parameters

objectAnyoptional: An object, module or class; without it, the variables of the current scope.

Return value

A dictionary {attribute name: value}.

Examples

Attributes of an object

Python 3.13
class Point:
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y


print(vars(Point(1, 2)))
{'x': 1, 'y': 2}

Setting attributes through the dictionary

Python 3.13
class Settings:
    pass


settings = Settings()
vars(settings).update({'debug': True, 'level': 2})
print(settings.debug, settings.level)
True 2

Details

For a regular object, it returns the __dict__ dictionary itself, not a copy, so changing it changes the attributes. Unlike dir, it shows only the object’s own attributes, without class methods. Raises TypeError for numbers, strings and other objects without __dict__.