Modern Python Standard Library Cookbook

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IntEnum values behave like int in most cases, which is usually convenient, but they can cause problems if the developer doesn't pay attention to the type.

For example, a function might unexpectedly perform the wrong thing if another enumeration or an integer value is provided, instead of the proper enumeration value:

>>> def do_request(kind):
...    if kind == RequestType.POST:
...        print('POST')
...    else:
...        print('OTHER')

As an example, invoking do_request with RequestType.POST or 1 will do exactly the same thing:

>>> do_request(RequestType.POST)
POST
>>> do_request(1)
POST

When we want to avoid treating our enumerations as numbers, we can use enum.Enum, which provides enumerated values that are not considered plain numbers: ...