What is the difference between __str__ and __repr__ IN PYTHON?

In Python, both __str__ and __repr__ are special methods that can be defined in a class to control how instances of that class are represented as strings. However, they are intended for different purposes and have different default behaviors:

• __str__(self) is used to return a human-readable string representation of an object. This method is called by the str() built-in function and by the print() function. The default implementation returns the result of the __repr__() method, but you can override it to provide a more meaningful string representation. This method should be used for display purposes.
• __repr__(self) is used to return an unambiguous string representation of an object that can be used to recreate that object. This method is called by the repr() built-in function and by the interactive interpreter when evaluating expressions that contain objects. The default implementation returns a string that looks like a constructor call that could be used to recreate the object. This method should be used for debugging and development purposes.

Here’s an example that illustrates the difference:

class Person:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self.name = name
self.age = age

def __str__(self):
return f”{self.name}, {self.age} years old”

def __repr__(self):
return f”Person(‘{self.name}’, {self.age})”

person = Person(“Alice”, 30)
print(person) # Output: Alice, 30 years old
print(repr(person)) # Output: Person(‘Alice’, 30)