来自PyPI的枚举包提供了枚举的健壮实现。之前的回答提到了PEP 354;这一提议遭到拒绝，但该提议得到了执行 http://pypi.python.org/pypi/enum。

用法简单而优雅:

>>> from enum import Enum
>>> Colors = Enum('red', 'blue', 'green')
>>> shirt_color = Colors.green
>>> shirt_color = Colors[2]
>>> shirt_color > Colors.red
True
>>> shirt_color.index
2
>>> str(shirt_color)
'green'

Enum类可以是一行程序。

class Enum(tuple): __getattr__ = tuple.index

如何使用它(正向和反向查找、键、值、项等)

>>> State = Enum(['Unclaimed', 'Claimed'])
>>> State.Claimed
1
>>> State[1]
'Claimed'
>>> State
('Unclaimed', 'Claimed')
>>> range(len(State))
[0, 1]
>>> [(k, State[k]) for k in range(len(State))]
[(0, 'Unclaimed'), (1, 'Claimed')]
>>> [(k, getattr(State, k)) for k in State]
[('Unclaimed', 0), ('Claimed', 1)]

在PEP 435之前，Python没有等效的，但你可以实现自己的。

就我个人而言，我喜欢保持简单(我在网上看到过一些非常复杂的例子)，就像这样……

class Animal:
    DOG = 1
    CAT = 2

x = Animal.DOG

在Python 3.4 (PEP 435)中，可以将Enum作为基类。这为您提供了一些额外的功能，详见PEP。例如，enum成员不同于整数，它们由名称和值组成。

from enum import Enum

class Animal(Enum):
    DOG = 1
    CAT = 2

print(Animal.DOG)
# <Animal.DOG: 1>

print(Animal.DOG.value)
# 1

print(Animal.DOG.name)
# "DOG"

如果您不想键入值，请使用以下快捷方式:

class Animal(Enum):
    DOG, CAT = range(2)

枚举实现可以转换为列表，并且是可迭代的。其成员的顺序是声明顺序，与它们的值无关。例如:

class Animal(Enum):
    DOG = 1
    CAT = 2
    COW = 0

list(Animal)
# [<Animal.DOG: 1>, <Animal.CAT: 2>, <Animal.COW: 0>]

[animal.value for animal in Animal]
# [1, 2, 0]

Animal.CAT in Animal
# True

为了解码二进制文件格式，我曾经需要一个Enum类。我碰巧想要的特性是简洁的枚举定义，通过整数值或字符串自由创建枚举实例的能力，以及有用的表示。这是我最后得出的结论:

>>> class Enum(int):
...     def __new__(cls, value):
...         if isinstance(value, str):
...             return getattr(cls, value)
...         elif isinstance(value, int):
...             return cls.__index[value]
...     def __str__(self): return self.__name
...     def __repr__(self): return "%s.%s" % (type(self).__name__, self.__name)
...     class __metaclass__(type):
...         def __new__(mcls, name, bases, attrs):
...             attrs['__slots__'] = ['_Enum__name']
...             cls = type.__new__(mcls, name, bases, attrs)
...             cls._Enum__index = _index = {}
...             for base in reversed(bases):
...                 if hasattr(base, '_Enum__index'):
...                     _index.update(base._Enum__index)
...             # create all of the instances of the new class
...             for attr in attrs.keys():
...                 value = attrs[attr]
...                 if isinstance(value, int):
...                     evalue = int.__new__(cls, value)
...                     evalue._Enum__name = attr
...                     _index[value] = evalue
...                     setattr(cls, attr, evalue)
...             return cls
... 

使用它的一个异想天开的例子:

>>> class Citrus(Enum):
...     Lemon = 1
...     Lime = 2
... 
>>> Citrus.Lemon
Citrus.Lemon
>>> 
>>> Citrus(1)
Citrus.Lemon
>>> Citrus(5)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 6, in __new__
KeyError: 5
>>> class Fruit(Citrus):
...     Apple = 3
...     Banana = 4
... 
>>> Fruit.Apple
Fruit.Apple
>>> Fruit.Lemon
Citrus.Lemon
>>> Fruit(1)
Citrus.Lemon
>>> Fruit(3)
Fruit.Apple
>>> "%d %s %r" % ((Fruit.Apple,)*3)
'3 Apple Fruit.Apple'
>>> Fruit(1) is Citrus.Lemon
True

主要特点:

str()， int()和repr()都会产生最有用的输出，分别是枚举的名称，它的整数值，以及返回枚举的Python表达式。 构造函数返回的枚举值严格限制为预定义值，没有意外的枚举值。 枚举值是单例的;它们可以与之严格比较

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

Alec Thomas简洁回答的一个变体(支持获取枚举值的名称):

class EnumBase(type):
    def __init__(self, name, base, fields):
        super(EnumBase, self).__init__(name, base, fields)
        self.__mapping = dict((v, k) for k, v in fields.iteritems())
    def __getitem__(self, val):
        return self.__mapping[val]

def enum(*seq, **named):
    enums = dict(zip(seq, range(len(seq))), **named)
    return EnumBase('Enum', (), enums)

Numbers = enum(ONE=1, TWO=2, THREE='three')
print Numbers.TWO
print Numbers[Numbers.ONE]
print Numbers[2]
print Numbers['three']