A decorator is a function that modifies another function.

Consider the following example of a timer decorator:

>>> import time
>>> def timer(f):
...     def inner(*args, **kwargs):
...         start = time.time()
...         result = f(*args, **kwargs)
...         print('Time elapsed:', time.time() - start)
...         return result
...     return inner
...
>>> @timer
... def slow(delay=1):
...     time.sleep(delay)
...     return 'Finished!'
...
>>> print(slow())
Time elapsed: 1.0011568069458008
Finished!
>>> print(slow(3))
Time elapsed: 3.000307321548462
Finished!

More information:

• Corey Schafer's video on decorators
• Real python article