*args and **kwargs

[JonathanB]

Ok, this is probably definitely a newbie question, but I have looked
all over the Python library reference material and tutorials which I
can find online and I cannot find a clear definition of what these are
and more importantly how to use them. From what I can tell from their
use in the examples I've seen, they are for passing a variable number
of arguments to a function (which I need to do in a program I am
working on). But how do you use them? Is there a fixed order in which
the arguments within *arg or **kwarg should be passed or will be
called within a function? I realize this probably involves a long-
winded answer to a very simple and common programming problem, so if
someone has a link to TFM, I'll gladly go RTFM. I just can't find it.

[Diez B. Roggisch]

JonathanB wrote:

Ok, this is probably definitely a newbie question, but I have looked
all over the Python library reference material and tutorials which I
can find online and I cannot find a clear definition of what these are
and more importantly how to use them. From what I can tell from their
use in the examples I've seen, they are for passing a variable number
of arguments to a function (which I need to do in a program I am
working on). But how do you use them? Is there a fixed order in which
the arguments within *arg or **kwarg should be passed or will be
called within a function? I realize this probably involves a long-
winded answer to a very simple and common programming problem, so if
someone has a link to TFM, I'll gladly go RTFM. I just can't find it.

That's because it's in the language reference, not in the library reference.

http://docs.python.org/ref/calls.html

Diez

[Thomas Jollans]

"JonathanB" <do******@gmail.comwrote in message
news:11**********************@q75g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...

Ok, this is probably definitely a newbie question, but I have looked
all over the Python library reference material and tutorials which I
can find online and I cannot find a clear definition of what these are
and more importantly how to use them. From what I can tell from their
use in the examples I've seen, they are for passing a variable number
of arguments to a function (which I need to do in a program I am
working on). But how do you use them? Is there a fixed order in which
the arguments within *arg or **kwarg should be passed or will be
called within a function? I realize this probably involves a long-
winded answer to a very simple and common programming problem, so if
someone has a link to TFM, I'll gladly go RTFM. I just can't find it.

I hope this example code will help you understand:

>>def a(*stuff):

print repr(stuff)

>>def b(**stuff):

print repr(stuff)

>>def c(*args, **kwargs):

print 'args', repr(args)
print 'kwargs', repr(kwargs)

>>a(1,2,3)

(1, 2, 3)

>>b(hello='world', lingo='python')

{'hello': 'world', 'lingo': 'python'}

>>c(13,14,thenext=16,afterthat=17)

args (13, 14)
kwargs {'afterthat': 17, 'thenext': 16}

>>args = [1,2,3,4]
kwargs = {'no-way': 23, 'yet-anotherInvalid.name': 24}
c(*args, **kwargs)

args (1, 2, 3, 4)
kwargs {'no-way': 23, 'yet-anotherInvalid.name': 24}

>>>

(sorry for the messed-up formatting)

[Wildemar Wildenburger]

JonathanB wrote:

Ok, this is probably definitely a newbie question, but I have looked
all over the Python library reference material and tutorials which I
can find online and I cannot find a clear definition of what these are
and more importantly how to use them. From what I can tell from their
use in the examples I've seen, they are for passing a variable number
of arguments to a function (which I need to do in a program I am
working on). But how do you use them? Is there a fixed order in which
the arguments within *arg or **kwarg should be passed or will be
called within a function? I realize this probably involves a long-
winded answer to a very simple and common programming problem, so if
someone has a link to TFM, I'll gladly go RTFM. I just can't find it.

http://www.python.org/doc/faq/progra...ion-to-another
(the first hit when you search python.org for *args and **kwargs)

Basically 'args' is a tuple with all the positional arguments, kwargs is
a dictionary with all the named arguments.
Likewise you can pass a tuple to a function like func(*tuple), or a dict
like func(**dictionary) or both, where the zuple has to come first.

[JonathanB]

I hope this example code will help you understand:

>>Code Snipped<<

OOH!! That makes perfect sense, thanks!, *args are passed as a turple,
**kwargs are passed as a dictionary. That means **kwargs is probably
what I want.

JonathanB

[BartlebyScrivener]

On Jun 5, 7:31 am, "Diez B. Roggisch" <[e-mail]:

JonathanB wrote:

Ok, this is probably definitely a newbie question, but I have looked
all over the Python library reference material and tutorials which I
can find online and I cannot find a clear definition of what these are
and more importantly how to use them.

Also, well maybe op did not check THE tutorial. Or found explanation
too terse. But it's there.

http://docs.python.org/tut/node6.htm...00000000000000

rd