Decorators Introduction in Python

What Are Decorators?

A decorator is a function that takes another function as an argument and returns a new function with added functionality.

They are often used to add features like logging, access control, or timing to existing functions.

• Decorators wrap a function to extend its behavior.
• They do not modify the original function's code.
• They are applied using the @decorator_name syntax above a function definition.

How Decorators Work

When you decorate a function, Python passes the original function to the decorator and replaces it with the returned function.

This allows the decorator to execute code before and after the original function runs.

• The original function is passed as an argument to the decorator.
• The decorator returns a wrapper function.
• The wrapper function calls the original function and can add extra behavior.

Basic Decorator Example

Let's look at a simple decorator that prints messages before and after a function runs.