python - Why does a metaclass not have access to the attributes inhereited from a subclass of a class defined by the metaclass? -

class foo defined metaclass meta. metaclass loops on class attributes , prints them screen.

class bar subclasses foo. however, metaclass not print inherited attributes bar.

why doesn't metaclass have access foo's attributes inherited in bar? not understanding python's metaclass system?

here sample code in 2.7:

class meta(type):     def __init__(cls, name, bases, attrs):         print "bases = {}".format(bases)         items = {k:v k,v in attrs.iteritems() if not k.startswith('__')}         k,v in items.iteritems():             print k, v  class foo(object):     __metaclass__ = meta     hi = 1  # prints: # bases = (<type 'object'>,) # hi 1  class bar(foo):     pass  # prints: # bases = (<class '__main__.foo'>,)  foo.hi #prints 1 bar.hi #prints 1 

the attrs parameter __init__ contains attributes for class, not bases.

a bar object not have attribute hi. instead, when ask bar.hi lookup start @ bar, find out doesn't have hi, in base foo find it.