PyTorch - How to deactivate dropout in evaluation mode
This is the model I defined it is a simple lstm with 2 fully connect layers.

import copy
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
import torch.nn.functional as F
import torch.optim as optim

class mylstm(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self,input_dim, output_dim, hidden_dim,linear_dim):
        super(mylstm, self).__init__()
        self.hidden_dim=hidden_dim
        self.lstm=nn.LSTMCell(input_dim,self.hidden_dim)
        self.linear1=nn.Linear(hidden_dim,linear_dim)
        self.linear2=nn.Linear(linear_dim,output_dim)
    def forward(self, input):
        out,_=self.lstm(input)
        out=nn.Dropout(p=0.3)(out)
        out=self.linear1(out)
        out=nn.Dropout(p=0.3)(out)
        out=self.linear2(out)
        return out


x_train and x_val are float dataframe with shape (4478,30), while y_train and y_val are float df with shape (4478,10)  

    x_train.head()
Out[271]: 
       0       1       2       3    ...        26      27      28      29
0  1.6110  1.6100  1.6293  1.6370   ...    1.6870  1.6925  1.6950  1.6905
1  1.6100  1.6293  1.6370  1.6530   ...    1.6925  1.6950  1.6905  1.6960
2  1.6293  1.6370  1.6530  1.6537   ...    1.6950  1.6905  1.6960  1.6930
3  1.6370  1.6530  1.6537  1.6620   ...    1.6905  1.6960  1.6930  1.6955
4  1.6530  1.6537  1.6620  1.6568   ...    1.6960  1.6930  1.6955  1.7040

[5 rows x 30 columns]

x_train.shape
Out[272]: (4478, 30)


Define the varible and do one time bp, I can find out the vaildation loss is 1.4941

model=mylstm(30,10,200,100).double()
from torch import optim
optimizer=optim.RMSprop(model.parameters(), lr=0.001, alpha=0.9)
criterion=nn.L1Loss()
input_=torch.autograd.Variable(torch.from_numpy(np.array(x_train)))
target=torch.autograd.Variable(torch.from_numpy(np.array(y_train)))
input2_=torch.autograd.Variable(torch.from_numpy(np.array(x_val)))
target2=torch.autograd.Variable(torch.from_numpy(np.array(y_val)))
optimizer.zero_grad()
output=model(input_)
loss=criterion(output,target)
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()
moniter=criterion(model(input2_),target2)

moniter
Out[274]: tensor(1.4941, dtype=torch.float64, grad_fn=&lt;L1LossBackward&gt;)


But I called forward function again I get a different number due to randomness of dropout

moniter=criterion(model(input2_),target2)
moniter
Out[275]: tensor(1.4943, dtype=torch.float64, grad_fn=&lt;L1LossBackward&gt;)


what should I do that I can eliminate all the dropout in predicting phrase?

I tried eval(): 

moniter=criterion(model.eval()(input2_),target2)
moniter
Out[282]: tensor(1.4942, dtype=torch.float64, grad_fn=&lt;L1LossBackward&gt;)

moniter=criterion(model.eval()(input2_),target2)
moniter
Out[283]: tensor(1.4945, dtype=torch.float64, grad_fn=&lt;L1LossBackward&gt;)


And pass an addtional parameter p to control dropout:

import copy
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
import torch.nn.functional as F
import torch.optim as optim
class mylstm(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self,input_dim, output_dim, hidden_dim,linear_dim,p):
        super(mylstm, self).__init__()
        self.hidden_dim=hidden_dim
        self.lstm=nn.LSTMCell(input_dim,self.hidden_dim)
        self.linear1=nn.Linear(hidden_dim,linear_dim)
        self.linear2=nn.Linear(linear_dim,output_dim)
    def forward(self, input,p):
        out,_=self.lstm(input)
        out=nn.Dropout(p=p)(out)
        out=self.linear1(out)
        out=nn.Dropout(p=p)(out)
        out=self.linear2(out)
        return out

model=mylstm(30,10,200,100,0.3).double()

output=model(input_)
loss=criterion(output,target)
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()
moniter=criterion(model(input2_,0),target2)
Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "&lt;ipython-input-286-e49b6fac918b&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
    output=model(input_)

  File "D:\Users\shan xu\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\torch\nn\modules\module.py", line 489, in __call__
    result = self.forward(*input, **kwargs)

TypeError: forward() missing 1 required positional argument: 'p'


But neither of them worked.

You have to define your nn.Dropout layer in your __init__ and assign it to your model to be responsive for calling eval().

So changing your model like this should work for you:

class mylstm(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self,input_dim, output_dim, hidden_dim,linear_dim,p):
        super(mylstm, self).__init__()
        self.hidden_dim=hidden_dim
        self.lstm=nn.LSTMCell(input_dim,self.hidden_dim)
        self.linear1=nn.Linear(hidden_dim,linear_dim)
        self.linear2=nn.Linear(linear_dim,output_dim)

        # define dropout layer in __init__
        self.drop_layer = nn.Dropout(p=p)
    def forward(self, input):
        out,_= self.lstm(input)

        # apply model dropout, responsive to eval()
        out= self.drop_layer(out)
        out= self.linear1(out)

        # apply model dropout, responsive to eval()
        out= self.drop_layer(out)
        out= self.linear2(out)
        return out


If you change it like this dropout will be inactive as soon as you call eval().

NOTE: If you want to continue training afterwards you need to call train() on your model to leave evaluation mode.



You can also find a small working example for dropout with eval() for evaluation mode here:
nn.Dropout vs. F.dropout pyTorch
