How can I create aliases of objects that inherit only a particular attribute - python-3.x

Question

I'm making a program in python where the user can add a name and number to a list.
I went with saving the entries in a class with 2 attributes and saving the instances of the class as objects in a list:
class NewEntry:
def __init__(self):
self.name = ""
self.number = ""
entry = NewEntry()
entry.name = userinput[1]
entry.number = userinput[2]
entrylist.append(entry)
I'm now trying to add a function called alias, that will save an entry under a new name. The alias is supposed to be connected to the original entry in such a way that changing the number of one of them will change the number of every corresponding alias to the same value.
Here is the code for my attempt at this:
for key in entrylist:
if key.name == userinput[1]:
entry = key
entry.name = userinput[2]
entrylist.append(entry)
This does not work as intended. When creating a new alias, it also changes the .name of key, the I'm attempting to only inherit the number-attribute from.
I've also attempted the following method:
for key in entrylist:
if key.name == userinput[1]:
entry = NewEntry()
entry.name = userinput[2]
entry.number = key.number
entrylist.append(entry)
TL;DR:
I want to be able to create copies of an object where the .number-attribute is the same across all aliases. I want the name to be different in all of these objects, but the number to stay the same. A change in the number of one of the aliases would affect the others as well.

Answer 1

You could link them up by adding an alias_of attribute to signify what a name is an alias of.
If you pair it up with a property for your number attribute then you control which object actually gets set.
class NewEntry:
# I added the attributes as constructor
# arguments since you're setting them anyway
def __init__(self, name='', number=None, alias_of=None):
self.name = name
# since we want self.number to be a property
# it is common practice to use a _ to signify
# that an attribute is private
self._number = number
# here alias will refer to the instance it's
# an alias of. It defaults to None
# or not an alias
self.alias_of = alias_of
# giving a method a #property decorator
# makes it get the attribute from here
# That way you control which number it's getting
#property
def number(self):
if self.alias_of:
return self.alias_of.number
else:
return self._number
# The same is true if you give it a setter
# method. It controls which instances number
# that you set
#number.setter
def number(self, value):
if self.alias_of:
self.alias_of.number = value
else:
self._number = value
entry = NewEntry('my name', number=1)
entry2 = NewEntry('my name 2', number=2)
# here we say that entry3 is an alias of entry
entry3 = NewEntry('my other name', alias_of=entry)
print(entry.number)
print(entry2.number)
# and here entry3 is actually setting entry
# 1's number attribute
entry3.number = 3
print(entry.number)