最好的解决方案取决于你需要从你的假枚举中得到什么。

简单的枚举:

如果你只需要枚举作为标识不同项目的名称列表，Mark Harrison(上图)的解决方案是很棒的:

Pen, Pencil, Eraser = range(0, 3)

使用范围还允许你设置任何起始值:

Pen, Pencil, Eraser = range(9, 12)

除此之外，如果你还要求项属于某种类型的容器，那么将它们嵌入到一个类中:

class Stationery:
    Pen, Pencil, Eraser = range(0, 3)

要使用枚举项，你现在需要使用容器名和项名:

stype = Stationery.Pen

复杂的枚举:

对于枚举的长列表或更复杂的enum使用，这些解决方案是不够的。你可以参考Will Ware在Python Cookbook中发布的关于在Python中模拟枚举的食谱。这里有一个在线版本。

更多信息:

PEP 354: Python中的枚举有关于Python中的枚举建议的有趣细节，以及为什么它被拒绝。

在Java pre-JDK 5中使用的类型安全枚举模式有一个 优势的数量。就像Alexandru的回答一样，你创建了一个 类和类级别字段是枚举值;然而，枚举 值是类的实例，而不是小整数。这已经 优点是枚举值不会在不经意间比较相等 对于小整数，你可以控制它们的打印方式，任意添加 方法(如果有用的话)，并使用isinstance进行断言:

class Animal:
   def __init__(self, name):
       self.name = name

   def __str__(self):
       return self.name

   def __repr__(self):
       return "<Animal: %s>" % self

Animal.DOG = Animal("dog")
Animal.CAT = Animal("cat")

>>> x = Animal.DOG
>>> x
<Animal: dog>
>>> x == 1
False

python-dev上最近的一个线程指出，在野外有几个枚举库，包括:

flufl.enum lazr.enum ．.． 和富有想象力的enum

我用什么:

class Enum(object):
    def __init__(self, names, separator=None):
        self.names = names.split(separator)
        for value, name in enumerate(self.names):
            setattr(self, name.upper(), value)
    def tuples(self):
        return tuple(enumerate(self.names))

使用方法:

>>> state = Enum('draft published retracted')
>>> state.DRAFT
0
>>> state.RETRACTED
2
>>> state.FOO
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'Enum' object has no attribute 'FOO'
>>> state.tuples()
((0, 'draft'), (1, 'published'), (2, 'retracted'))

这就给出了整数常数，比如状态。PUBLISHED和在Django模型中用作选项的二元组。

下面是亚历克·托马斯解决方案的一个变种:

def enum(*args, **kwargs):
    return type('Enum', (), dict((y, x) for x, y in enumerate(args), **kwargs)) 

x = enum('POOH', 'TIGGER', 'EEYORE', 'ROO', 'PIGLET', 'RABBIT', 'OWL')
assert x.POOH == 0
assert x.TIGGER == 1

以下是我认为有价值的方法:

允许>和<基于枚举中的顺序进行比较，而不是词法顺序 可以地址项目的名称，属性或索引:x.a, x['a']或x[0] 支持[:]或[-1]等切片操作

最重要的是防止不同类型的枚举之间的比较!

基于http://code.activestate.com/recipes/413486-first-class-enums-in-python。

这里包含了许多文档测试，以说明这种方法的不同之处。

def enum(*names):
    """
SYNOPSIS
    Well-behaved enumerated type, easier than creating custom classes

DESCRIPTION
    Create a custom type that implements an enumeration.  Similar in concept
    to a C enum but with some additional capabilities and protections.  See
    http://code.activestate.com/recipes/413486-first-class-enums-in-python/.

PARAMETERS
    names       Ordered list of names.  The order in which names are given
                will be the sort order in the enum type.  Duplicate names
                are not allowed.  Unicode names are mapped to ASCII.

RETURNS
    Object of type enum, with the input names and the enumerated values.

EXAMPLES
    >>> letters = enum('a','e','i','o','u','b','c','y','z')
    >>> letters.a < letters.e
    True

    ## index by property
    >>> letters.a
    a

    ## index by position
    >>> letters[0]
    a

    ## index by name, helpful for bridging string inputs to enum
    >>> letters['a']
    a

    ## sorting by order in the enum() create, not character value
    >>> letters.u < letters.b
    True

    ## normal slicing operations available
    >>> letters[-1]
    z

    ## error since there are not 100 items in enum
    >>> letters[99]
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    IndexError: tuple index out of range

    ## error since name does not exist in enum
    >>> letters['ggg']
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    ValueError: tuple.index(x): x not in tuple

    ## enums must be named using valid Python identifiers
    >>> numbers = enum(1,2,3,4)
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Enum values must be string or unicode

    >>> a = enum('-a','-b')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    TypeError: Error when calling the metaclass bases
        __slots__ must be identifiers

    ## create another enum
    >>> tags = enum('a','b','c')
    >>> tags.a
    a
    >>> letters.a
    a

    ## can't compare values from different enums
    >>> letters.a == tags.a
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Only values from the same enum are comparable

    >>> letters.a < tags.a
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Only values from the same enum are comparable

    ## can't update enum after create
    >>> letters.a = 'x'
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AttributeError: 'EnumClass' object attribute 'a' is read-only

    ## can't update enum after create
    >>> del letters.u
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AttributeError: 'EnumClass' object attribute 'u' is read-only

    ## can't have non-unique enum values
    >>> x = enum('a','b','c','a')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Enums must not repeat values

    ## can't have zero enum values
    >>> x = enum()
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Empty enums are not supported

    ## can't have enum values that look like special function names
    ## since these could collide and lead to non-obvious errors
    >>> x = enum('a','b','c','__cmp__')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    AssertionError: Enum values beginning with __ are not supported

LIMITATIONS
    Enum values of unicode type are not preserved, mapped to ASCII instead.

    """
    ## must have at least one enum value
    assert names, 'Empty enums are not supported'
    ## enum values must be strings
    assert len([i for i in names if not isinstance(i, types.StringTypes) and not \
        isinstance(i, unicode)]) == 0, 'Enum values must be string or unicode'
    ## enum values must not collide with special function names
    assert len([i for i in names if i.startswith("__")]) == 0,\
        'Enum values beginning with __ are not supported'
    ## each enum value must be unique from all others
    assert names == uniquify(names), 'Enums must not repeat values'

    class EnumClass(object):
        """ See parent function for explanation """

        __slots__ = names

        def __iter__(self):
            return iter(constants)

        def __len__(self):
            return len(constants)

        def __getitem__(self, i):
            ## this makes xx['name'] possible
            if isinstance(i, types.StringTypes):
                i = names.index(i)
            ## handles the more normal xx[0]
            return constants[i]

        def __repr__(self):
            return 'enum' + str(names)

        def __str__(self):
            return 'enum ' + str(constants)

        def index(self, i):
            return names.index(i)

    class EnumValue(object):
        """ See parent function for explanation """

        __slots__ = ('__value')

        def __init__(self, value):
            self.__value = value

        value = property(lambda self: self.__value)

        enumtype = property(lambda self: enumtype)

        def __hash__(self):
            return hash(self.__value)

        def __cmp__(self, other):
            assert self.enumtype is other.enumtype, 'Only values from the same enum are comparable'
            return cmp(self.value, other.value)

        def __invert__(self):
            return constants[maximum - self.value]

        def __nonzero__(self):
            ## return bool(self.value)
            ## Original code led to bool(x[0])==False, not correct
            return True

        def __repr__(self):
            return str(names[self.value])

    maximum = len(names) - 1
    constants = [None] * len(names)
    for i, each in enumerate(names):
        val = EnumValue(i)
        setattr(EnumClass, each, val)
        constants[i] = val
    constants = tuple(constants)
    enumtype = EnumClass()
    return enumtype

def M_add_class_attribs(attribs):
    def foo(name, bases, dict_):
        for v, k in attribs:
            dict_[k] = v
        return type(name, bases, dict_)
    return foo

def enum(*names):
    class Foo(object):
        __metaclass__ = M_add_class_attribs(enumerate(names))
        def __setattr__(self, name, value):  # this makes it read-only
            raise NotImplementedError
    return Foo()

像这样使用它:

Animal = enum('DOG', 'CAT')
Animal.DOG # returns 0
Animal.CAT # returns 1
Animal.DOG = 2 # raises NotImplementedError

如果你只想要唯一的符号，不关心值，替换这行:

__metaclass__ = M_add_class_attribs(enumerate(names))

用这个:

__metaclass__ = M_add_class_attribs((object(), name) for name in names)