__repr__
Called by the
repr()built-in function and by string conversions (reverse quotes) to compute the “official” string representation of an object. If at all possible, this should look like a valid Python expression that could be used to recreate an object with the same value (given an appropriate environment).
__str__
Called by the
str()built-in function and by the print statement to compute the “informal” string representation of an object.
Use __str__ if you have a class, and you’ll want an informative/informal output, whenever you use this object as part of string. E.g. you can define __str__ methods for Django models, which then gets rendered in the Django administration interface. Instead of something like <Model object> you’ll get like first and last name of a person, the name and date of an event, etc.
__repr__ and __str__ are similar, in fact sometimes equal (Example from BaseSet class in sets.py from the standard library):
def __repr__(self):
"""Return string representation of a set.
This looks like 'Set([<list of elements>])'.
"""
return self._repr()
# __str__ is the same as __repr__
__str__ = __repr__