@staticmethod and @classmethod

Syntax

@staticmethod\ndef method(): ...\n\n@classmethod\ndef method(cls): ...

Examples

class MathUtils:
    @staticmethod
    def is_even(n):
        return n % 2 == 0

print(MathUtils.is_even(4))   # True, called directly on the class
print(MathUtils.is_even(7))   # False

class Employee:
    count = 0

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name
        Employee.count += 1

    @classmethod
    def get_employee_count(cls):
        return cls.count

e1 = Employee("Fola")
e2 = Employee("Zain")
print(Employee.get_employee_count())  # 2

class Date:
    def __init__(self, year, month, day):
        self.year = year
        self.month = month
        self.day = day

    @classmethod
    def from_string(cls, date_string):
        year, month, day = map(int, date_string.split("-"))
        return cls(year, month, day)

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"{self.year}-{self.month:02d}-{self.day:02d}"

d1 = Date(2026, 3, 3)
d2 = Date.from_string("2026-07-16")
print(d1, d2)

Best practices

• Use @staticmethod for helper functions logically related to the class but that need no access to self or cls
• Use @classmethod for alternative constructors (like from_string) or methods that operate on class-level data
• Prefer a module-level function instead of a @staticmethod when the logic has no real connection to the class at all
• Remember @classmethod receives cls (the class), which correctly refers to subclasses too - important when the method is inherited

At a glance

Purpose

Scripting and general-purpose applications

File extension

.py

Runs in

Python interpreter

Usually used with

Python standard library and packages

Specifications & further reading

• Python language reference

Related Python documentation