["python","python-3.x","default-value","python-dataclasses"]
How to apply default value to Python dataclass field when None was passed?

I need a class that will accept a number of parameters, I know that all parameters will be provided but some maybe passed as None in which case my class will have to provide default values. I want to setup a simple dataclass with a some default values like so: @dataclass class Specs1: a: str b: str = 'Bravo' c: str = 'Charlie' I would like to be able to get the default value for the second field but still set a value for the third one. I cannot do this with None because it is happily accepted as a value for my string: r1 = Specs1('Apple', None, 'Cherry') # Specs1(a='Apple', b=None, c='Cherry') I have come up with the following solution: @dataclass class Specs2: def_b: ClassVar = 'Bravo' def_c: ClassVar = 'Charlie' a: str b: str = def_b c: str = def_c def __post_init__(self): self.b = self.def_b if self.b is None else self.b self.c = self.def_c if self.c is None else self.c Which seems to behave as intended: r2 = Specs2('Apple', None, 'Cherry') # Specs2(a='Apple', b='Bravo', c='Cherry') However, I feel it is quite ugly and that I am maybe missing something here. My actual class will have more fields so it will only get uglier. The parameters passed to the class contain None and I do not have control over this aspect.
I know this is a little late, but inspired by MikeSchneeberger's answer I made a small adaptation to the __post_init__ function that allows you to keep the defaults in the standard format: from dataclasses import dataclass, fields def __post_init__(self): # Loop through the fields for field in fields(self): # If there is a default and the value of the field is none we can assign a value if not isinstance(field.default, dataclasses._MISSING_TYPE) and getattr(self, field.name) is None: setattr(self, field.name, field.default) Adding this to your dataclass should then ensure that the default values are enforced without requiring a new default class.