python - Initialise class object by name

Question

Since everything in python is an object, i was wondering if there was a way i could initialise a class object using the name of the class

for example,

class Foo:
    """Class Foo"""

How could i access this class by "Foo", ie something like c = get_class("Foo")

Answer 1

If the class is in your scope:

get_class = lambda x: globals()[x]

If you need to get a class from a module, you can use getattr:

import urllib2
handlerClass = getattr(urllib2, 'HTTPHandler')