Use Mypy for Python Static Type Checking

Python is a dynamically typed language. It determines data types at run time, rather than compile time. Some examples of Python types include integers, floats, strings, and boolean. Dynamically typed languages stand in contrast to statically typed languages, like C++, Java, and Fortran, that perform type checking at compile time.

One advantage to dynamically typed languages, like Python, is that a programmer does not need to specify types for each declared variable. Instead, the Python interpreter infers and assigns a type at run time. This leads to more succinct code that can be written quicker than when using statically typed languages, like Java. This concise style has its disadvantages as well. Because the interpreter works harder to fill in what Python leaves implicit, Python programs can take longer to execute. You may also occasionally run into bugs because Python incorrectly interprets a variable’s type. Code completion tools also work better and are more full-featured for statically typed languages.

Recent enhancements to Python make static typing an option. Alternative syntaxes now give programmers the choice to write their Python code in a statically typed way. Mypy is a tool used to help you write or rewrite Python code with type annotations. This tool brings the benefits of static typing to your Python programs.

What is Mypy?

Mypy is a tool used for static-type checking Python code. Python’s founder, Guido van Rossum, has worked for several years on Mypy. Mypy’s validation of statically typed Python can result in programs being more correct, readable, refactorable, and testable. If you want to use Python, and you want the advantages of static typing, then consider using Mypy. Alternatives to Mypy such as Pyre exist, but Mypy is currently more popular in the Python community.

Note

Statically typed languages have the reputation of being more difficult to learn. Converting existing Python code to statically typed code may be intimidating since many lines of code might need to change. This guide illustrates how to adapt an existing Python project to incrementally use Mypy and static typing.

How to Install and Use Mypy

How to Install Mypy

Install Mypy on your system using Pip with the following command:

python -m pip install mypy

Note

If you maintain your configuration through a Graphical User Interface (GUI), like Anaconda, or use an alternative package manager, modify this command to fit your situation.

Mypy Basic Usage

Once Mypy is successfully installed, change the directory to one with existing Python source files, and run Mypy with the following command:

mypy *.py

You should see a similar output if no errors are found.

Success: no issues found in N source files

If you do not have Python source files immediately available to you, create one for this example.

cd /tmp
echo "print('Hello, world.')" > test1.py

Run Mypy with the following command:

mypy *.py

The following output is returned:

Success: no issues found in 1 source file

The default configuration does not provide any useful information about static types. This is because the Python example does not define any static types. The next section shows you how to add type annotations to your Python code.

Identify Errors Using Mypy

Mypy can help you identify errors, like missing parentheses in a print statement, earlier in your development life cycle. Compared to Python 2, Python 3 is strict about requiring parentheses around a print statement. If you are working to update a Python 2 program to Python 3, Mypy can help you identify common syntax errors, like missing parentheses.

Create an example Python file and run Mypy to see its error handling in action.

echo "print 'Hello, world.'" > test2.py
mypy *.py

Mypy returns the following error:

error: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print('Hello, world.')?
Found 1 error in 1 file (errors prevented further checking)

Mypy can identify every print statement that requires parentheses upon an initial run.

Static Typing with Type Annotations

Mypy allows you to add type annotations to functions in order to help it detect errors related to incorrect function return types. Consider the following example:

File: test3.py

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def legal_name(first: str, last:str) -> str: return 'My legal name is:' + first + ' '+ last legal_name('Jane', 5)

When you run mypy test3.py, you see the following error message:

test3.py:4: error: Argument 2 to "legal_name" has incompatible type "int"; expected "str"
Found 1 error in 1 file (checked 1 source file)

The first line def legal_name(first: str, last:str) -> str: specifies that the function legal_name() expects arguments of type string and returns a value of type string. Mypy is able to detect that the function call’s second argument does not fulfill the type annotation requirements. Without the type annotations, Mypy does not detect any issues with an argument of type int.

Note

Use mypy’s --disallow-untyped-defs command-line option, to enforce static typing on all function definitions. This option may be too strict if your Python project works with third-party libraries that do not use type annotations.

Mypy recognizes type annotations on all objects in a Python program. For this guide, the emphasis is on function signatures, as opposed to all the other objects in play in a Python program. When beginning with Mypy, focus on your Python code’s function definitions. When refactoring your Python code with type annotations, begin by annotating all function definitions first. Next, you can consider adding type annotations to variables not only contained in function signatures. Some developers consider that most of Mypy’s benefit comes from adding type annotations to function declarations. More exhaustive annotation of other variables may require more effort than it’s worth.

Type Aliases and Definitions

Much of the power of type annotations, comes from domain-specific type definitions, that is, type definitions beyond the built-in types. Consider the following example:

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def retrieve(url): """Retrieve the content found at url.""" ...

Straightforward type annotation refines the example above to the following:

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URL = str def retrieve(url: URL) -> str: """Retrieve the content found at url.""" ...

The URL is a type alias, and expresses the intent for the variable url more clearly than a bare str does. The retrieve definition doesn’t accept a string for its url argument. The url argument must be of type URL. A proper URL conforms to a specific documented syntax.

Another benefit of type aliases is the abbreviation of complex types. An example of this advantage can be seen in the following function definition.

1 2	def compose(first: list[dict[str, float]], second: list[dict[str, float]]) -> list[dict[str, float]] ...

The function definition above can be written in a more expressively as shown below:

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MyType = list[dict[str, float]] ... def compose(first: MyType, second: MyType) -> MyType: ...

As valuable as type aliases are, Python has an alternative, the type definition, that is also powerful. The code below ensures that your url arguments use the correct URL syntax:

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from typing import NewType ... URL = NewType("URL", str) ... def retrieve(url: URL) -> str: ...

With this type definition in place, Mypy rejects method invocations such as retrieve("not a true URL"), while it accepts retrieve(URL("https://www.linode.com")). Python programmers are accustomed to checking for special syntaxes like URLs at run time. Mypy brings the opportunity to express these as powerful compile-time verifications.

More tooling for type definitions exists beyond what this guide introduces. Even without these advanced tools, you can use type aliases and type definitions as illustrated above to make your own source more expressive.

Directives

Mypy’s directives adjusts the information it returns. Consider the following example:

1. Create a file named test2.py with the following content:

   File: test2.py

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   def f1(error: str) -> int: """While this does nothing particularly useful, the syntax is typical of Python code often found "in the wild".""" if len(error) > 4: return 3 if len(error) > 10: return 1 + error return 99 print(f"The return value is {f1('abc')}.") print(f"The return value is {f1('abcef')}.")

2. Run Mypy on the test2.py file:

    mypy --disallow-untyped-defs test2.py
   

   Mypy reports the function definition of test2.py as fully annotated. Every if clause of the f1() function returns the expected integer type. However, Mypy still reports an error:

   test2.py:8: error: Unsupported operand types for + ("int" and "str")

3. Rerun Mypy to display error codes:

    mypy --show-error-codes --disallow-untyped-defs test2.py
   

   The error message becomes slightly more descriptive:

   test2.py:8: error: Unsupported operand types for + ("int" and "str")  [operator]

4. Update the return statement in line 8 of the example above to:

   File: test2.py

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   ... return 1 + error: # type: ignore[operator] ...

   When you rerun Mypy, it reports no errors. The # type: ignore[operator] directive marks that as a problem and eventually requires a solution. The directive is a comment, which leaves the behavior of the program entirely unchanged. Now when you rerun Mypy, you get a success message and you can continue to work on other areas of your code. This is a tactic you can use more generally. In annotating types over a large body of source code, it is advisable to choose only one error code, clean up all the occurrences of one error type, while using directives to ignore other problems temporarily, and iterate.

Mypy Configuration

You can configure Mypy using a configuration file named mypy.ini.

Create a new file named mypy.ini in your project directory. Add the following content to the file:

File: mypy.ini

1	disallow_untyped_defs = true

Any mypy command launched in that directory behaves as though it’s run with the command-line argument --disallow-untyped-defs.

Different filenames are possible for Mypy’s configuration file. mypy.ini is a good choice when starting with Mypy, and one that Mypy recognizes by default. You can also use a .toml file to store your Mypy configurations.

Your target configuration should include, at minimum, the following configurations:

File: mypy.ini

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disallow_untyped_defs = true no_implicit_optional = true show_error_codes = true strict_equality = true warn_redundant_casts = true warn_unused_ignores = true

This configuration helps you adopt the incremental approach for refactoring non-typed Python code recommended in this guide. This combination brings most of the benefits of Mypy to your project, without involving more difficult aspects of Mypy.

Conclusion

Mypy’s defaults are worth learning. For example, it’s idiomatic not to annotate the self parameter of method definitions. A common constructor is:

def __init__(self, *args: str, **kwargs: str) -> None

Even with disallow_untyped_defs set, Mypy can recognize how to handle self correctly without an explicit annotation from the programmer.

Type annotation is a large change to Python coding, however, one that promises significant benefits. Use the techniques outlined in this guide to migrate real-world Python projects to type annotated code.