Python Inheritance — Complete Cheat Sheet

What is Inheritance?

Inheritance is an OOP concept where one class (child) can acquire properties and methods of another class (parent).

Makes code reusable
Removes repetition
Allows building advanced structures

Basic Inheritance

class Parent:
  def display(self):
    print("This is the parent class")

class Child(Parent):
  pass

c = Child()
c.display()

Using Constructor (init) with super()

super() calls the parent class constructor.

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

class Student(Person):
  def __init__(self, name, grade):
    super().__init__(name)
    self.grade = grade

s = Student("Emil", "A")
print(s.name, s.grade)

Method Overriding

Child class replaces the parent method.

class Parent:
  def greet(self):
    print("Hello from Parent")

class Child(Parent):
  def greet(self):
    print("Hello from Child")

c = Child()
c.greet()

Using super() to Access Parent Methods

class Parent:
  def greet(self):
    print("Hello from Parent")

class Child(Parent):
  def greet(self):
    super().greet()
    print("Hello from Child")

c = Child()
c.greet()

Types of Inheritance in Python

Type	Description
Single	One parent → one child
Multiple	Child inherits from multiple parents
Multi-level	Parent → child → grandchild
Hierarchical	One parent → many children
Hybrid	Combination of different types

Multiple Inheritance

A class inherits from more than one parent.

class A:
  def showA(self):
    print("A")

class B:
  def showB(self):
    print("B")

class C(A, B):  # Multiple Inheritance
  pass

obj = C()
obj.showA()
obj.showB()

Multi-Level Inheritance

class A:
  def showA(self):
    print("A")

class B(A):
  def showB(self):
    print("B")

class C(B):
  def showC(self):
    print("C")

obj = C()
obj.showA()
obj.showB()
obj.showC()

Hierarchical Inheritance

class Parent:
  def greet(self):
    print("Hello from Parent")

class Child1(Parent):
  pass

class Child2(Parent):
  pass

c1 = Child1()
c2 = Child2()
c1.greet()
c2.greet()

Summary

Child class inherits methods & properties of parent
super() calls parent constructor/method
Child can override parent methods
Python supports 5 types of inheritance
Helps reduce repeated code

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