How can a decorator be called without using the @ symbol?

A decorator is a function that takes another function as an argument and returns a new function, which usually extends the functionality of the original. Calling a decorator without the @ symbol can be done by explicitly applying the decorator function to the original function and assigning the result to the same or a new name.

Example: decorating the function my_function with the decorator my_decorator.

Using the @ syntax:

# my_decorator definition
def my_decorator(func):
    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        print("Before function call")
        result = func(*args, **kwargs)
        print("After function call")
        return result
    return wrapper

@my_decorator
def my_function():
    print("Inside my_function")

my_function()

Calling without the @ symbol:

# my_decorator definition (same as above)
def my_decorator(func):
    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        print("Before function call")
        result = func(*args, **kwargs)
        print("After function call")
        return result
    return wrapper

def my_function():
    print("Inside my_function")

# Explicitly apply the decorator
my_function = my_decorator(my_function)

my_function()

In both cases, the result will be the same. The call my_decorator(my_function) returns the wrapper function, which is then assigned to the variable my_function, replacing the original function. The syntax with the @ symbol is just syntactic sugar for this assignment operation.