import inspect
def foo(a, b, x='blah'):
pass
print(inspect.signature(foo))
# (a, b, x='blah')
Python 3.5+ recommends inspect.signature().
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-get-function-signature
Get Function Signature - Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - ... Explanation: In this example, the function add takes two parameters a and b, both of type int and returns an int. inspect module offers a function called signature() that allows us to get the signature of any callable object in Python.
Python
docs.python.org › 3 › library › inspect.html
inspect — Inspect live objects
A reference to the parent Signature object. ... Set default values for missing arguments. For variable-positional arguments (*args) the default is an empty tuple. For variable-keyword arguments (**kwargs) the default is an empty dict. >>> def foo(a, b='ham', *args): pass >>> ba = inspect.signature(foo).bind('spam') >>> ba.apply_defaults() >>> ba.arguments {'a': 'spam', 'b': 'ham', 'args': ()}
Videos
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Understanding inspect.signature Behavior on @ classmethod Decorated ...
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Things (Almost) No One Thinks About When Designing Functions in ...
Understanding Python: Lesson 76 - inspect
01:13
inspect.signature in Python - YouTube
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inspect in Python - YouTube
04:38
Every Python Function has a "Signature" revealing its requirements.
Top answer 1 of 9
277
import inspect
def foo(a, b, x='blah'):
pass
print(inspect.signature(foo))
# (a, b, x='blah')
Python 3.5+ recommends inspect.signature().
2 of 9
61
Arguably the easiest way to find the signature for a function would be help(function):
>>> def function(arg1, arg2="foo", *args, **kwargs): pass
>>> help(function)
Help on function function in module __main__:
function(arg1, arg2='foo', *args, **kwargs)
Also, in Python 3 a method was added to the inspect module called signature, which is designed to represent the signature of a callable object and its return annotation:
>>> from inspect import signature
>>> def foo(a, *, b:int, **kwargs):
... pass
>>> sig = signature(foo)
>>> str(sig)
'(a, *, b:int, **kwargs)'
>>> str(sig.parameters['b'])
'b:int'
>>> sig.parameters['b'].annotation
<class 'int'>
Python
bugs.python.org › issue43006
Issue 43006: Changed behaviour of inspect.signature() in Python 3.10 - Python tracker
This issue tracker has been migrated to GitHub, and is currently read-only. For more information, see the GitHub FAQs in the Python's Developer Guide · This issue has been migrated to GitHub: https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/87172
Readthedocs
python-forge.readthedocs.io › en › latest › signature.html
Signatures, parameters and return types — forge 18.6.0 documentation
It’s primary responsibility is to apply a series of transforms and validations on an value and map that value to the parameter of an underlying callable. It mimics the API of inspect.Parameter, and extends it further to provide enriched functionality for value transformation. The kind of a parameter determines it’s position in a signature and how a user can provide its argument value.
TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › python-get-function-signature
Python - Get Function Signature
July 18, 2023 - Understanding function signatures ... and default values. The inspect module provides powerful methods like signature() and getfullargspec() to retrieve detailed function information programmatically....
Python Module of the Week
pymotw.com › 3 › inspect
Inspect Live Objects — PyMOTW 3
In addition to the documentation for a function or method, it is possible to ask for a complete specification of the arguments the callable takes, including default values. The signature() function returns a Signature instance containing information about the arguments to the function.
IPython
ipython.org › ipython-doc › 3 › api › generated › IPython.utils.signatures.html
Module: utils.signatures — IPython 3.2.1 documentation
Back port of Python 3.3’s function signature tools from the inspect module, modified to be compatible with Python 2.7 and 3.2+.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › inspect-module-in-python
Inspect Module in Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - Example 3: In this example, we use inspect.signature() to get the signature of the greet function, showing its parameters and default values.
Gaohongnan
gaohongnan.com › playbook › how_to_inspect_function_and_class_signatures.html
How to Inspect Function and Class Signatures in Python? — Omniverse
We can use the inspect module to achieve this. The getmembers function returns all members of a class or module. We can then filter out the functions and classes and inspect their signatures.
Medium
elshad-karimov.medium.com › pythons-inspect-module-uncovering-the-secrets-of-your-code-4b8eef382e7a
Python’s inspect Module – Uncovering the Secrets of Your Code 🔍🐍 | by Elshad Karimov | Medium
March 26, 2025 - import inspect def example_func(a: int, b: str = "hello", *args, **kwargs) -> bool: return True sig = inspect.signature(example_func) print(sig) # (a: int, b: str = 'hello', *args, **kwargs) -> bool for name, param in sig.parameters.items(): print(f"{name}: {param.kind}, Default={param.default}")
W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › ref_module_inspect.asp
Python inspect Module
The inspect module provides several ... objects, and code objects. Use it to retrieve source code, function signatures, parameters, and to examine the runtime stack for debugging and tooling....
University of New Brunswick
cs.unb.ca › ~bremner › teaching › cs2613 › books › python3-doc › library › inspect.html
inspect — Inspect live objects — Python 3.9.2 documentation
Pass False to get a signature of callable specifically (callable.__wrapped__ will not be used to unwrap decorated callables.) ... Some callables may not be introspectable in certain implementations of Python. For example, in CPython, some built-in functions defined in C provide no metadata about their arguments. class inspect.Signature(parameters=None, *, return_annotation=Signature.empty)¶
Martin Heinz
martinheinz.dev › blog › 82
All The Ways To Introspect Python Objects at Runtime | Martin Heinz | Personal Website & Blog
October 3, 2022 - If the parameters don't satisfy the signature, we receive an exception. If all is good, we can proceed to access the bound parameter using the return value of bind method. The above worked for validating parameters inside a basic function, but what if we wanted to validate that a generator gets all the necessary parameters from a decorated function? import functools import inspect def login_required(fn): @functools.wraps(fn) def wrapper(*args, **kwargs): func_args = inspect.Signature.from_callable(fn).parameters if "username" not in func_args: raise Exception("Missing username argument") # ...
Python.org
discuss.python.org › documentation
Documenting `__signature__`? - Documentation - Discussions on Python.org
October 11, 2023 - The __signature__ attribute is an override for the inspect.signature function, which returns the value of that attribute if present instead of computing it. That behavior is not documented as part of the inspect.signature doc, but it is alluded to in inspect.unwrap, and it is described in the implementation section of the signature PEP.
Chipx86
chipx86.blog › 2025 › 07 › 12 › a-crash-course-on-python-function-signatures-and-typing
A crash course on Python function signatures and typing
August 8, 2025 - I’ve been doing some work on Review Board and our utility library Typelets, and thought I’d share some of the intricacies of function signatures and their typing in Python. We have some pretty neat Python typing utilities in the works to help a function inherit another function’s types in their own *args and **kwargs without rewriting a TypedDict. Useful for functions that need to forward arguments to another function. I’ll talk more about that later, but understanding how it works first requires understanding a bit about how Python sees functions. Python’s inspect module is full of goodies for analyzing objects and code, and today we’ll explore the inspect.signature() function.
Readthedocs
sigtools.readthedocs.io › en › stable › signature-retrieval.html
Improved signature reporting — sigtools 4.0.1 documentation
sigtools.signature is a drop-in replacement for inspect.signature, with a few key improvements: It can automatically traverse through decorators, while keeping track of which functions owns each parameter · It helps you evaluate parameter annotations in the proper context, for instance when the parameter annotation is defined in a module that enables postponed evaluation of annotations. It supports a mechanism for functions to dynamically alter their reported signature · Python’s inspect module can produce signature objects, which represent how a function can be called.
Fluentpython
fluentpython.com › extra › function-introspection
Introspection of Function Parameters | Fluent Python, the lizard book
This is much better. inspect.signature returns an inspect.Signature object, which has a parameters attribute that lets you read an ordered mapping of names to inspect.Parameter objects. Each Parameter instance has attributes such as name, default, and kind.
Python.org
discuss.python.org › ideas
An option for inspect.signature to hide "internal use" arguments? - Ideas - Discussions on Python.org
April 7, 2023 - In the PEP 8, the _single_leading_underscore mentioned as a weak “internal use” indicator. Despite the fact it is only a naming convention there is some support for that in the language/stdlib, e.g. in star imports. I think this could be extended to function/method signatures, e.g. with a “private” option for the inspect.signature: for private=False - underscore-prefixed keyword arguments (with defaults) will be excluded from the returned signature.