Understanding Python Decorators: A Beginner’s Guide

Decorators are a powerful and useful tool in Python, allowing you to modify the behavior of functions or methods. They provide a clean and readable way to extend the functionality of existing code. This guide will introduce you to decorators, explain how they work, and show you how to create and use them effectively.

What Are Decorators?

A decorator is a function that takes another function as an argument and extends or alters its behavior without modifying its actual code. Decorators are often used for logging, access control, memoization, and more.

How Do Decorators Work?

Decorators use a special syntax with the @ symbol, placed above the function definition. When you apply a decorator, you’re essentially passing the decorated function to the decorator function and replacing the original function with the result returned by the decorator.

Example:

def decorator_function(original_function):
    def wrapper_function():
        print("Wrapper function executed before", original_function.__name__)
        return original_function()
    return wrapper_function

@decorator_function
def display():
    print("Display function executed")
display()