I'm a few months into learning python.
After going through pyramid tutorials I'm having trouble understanding a line in the init.py
from pyramid.config import Configurator
from sqlalchemy import engine_from_config
from .models import (
DBSession,
Base,
)
def main(global_config, **settings):
""" This function returns a Pyramid WSGI application.
"""
engine = engine_from_config(settings, 'sqlalchemy.')
DBSession.configure(bind=engine)
Base.metadata.bind = engine
config = Configurator(settings=settings)
config.include('pyramid_chameleon')
config.add_static_view('static', 'static', cache_max_age=3600)
config.add_route('home', '/')
config.scan()
return config.make_wsgi_app()
I'm lost about settings=settings in the configurator argument.
What is this telling python?
Python functions support keyword arguments:
def add(a, b):
return a + b
add(a=1, b=2)
This happens here.
Configurator(settings=settings)
The first settings is the name of the parameter in the __init__ of Configurator. The second is a name for an object in the current name space.
Python supports calling any callable object (i.e. functions, constructors, or even objects understanding __call__ method) specifying positional arguments, named arguments, or even both types of arguments.
When you pass named arguments, they must be after the positional arguments (if any is passed).
So you can call any function, like:
def f(a, b):
return a + b
In the following ways:
f(1, 2)
f(1, b=2)
f(a=1, b=2)
f(b=1, a=2) # Order doesn't matter among named arguments
While the following forms will trigger an error:
f(a=1, 2) # Named arguments must appear AFTER positional arguments
f(1, a=2) # You are passing the same argument twice: one by position, one by name
So, when you pass a named parameter, be sure you don't pass the same parameter twice (i.e. also by position), and also check that the argument name exists (also: if it is documented that the argument could/should be passed by name, respect their names on inheritance/override).
Additionally Python supports passing *arguments and **keyword_arguments. These are additional arguments you can process in a variadic way, as many languages support them.
*args (the name doesn't matter - it must have an asterisk to be a positional variadic; it's a tuple) holds remaining unmatched positional arguments (instead of getting a TypeError for positional argument being unexpected, such argument gets into *args as an element).
**kwargs (the name doesn't matter - it must have two asterisks to be a named/keyword variadic; it's a dictionary) holds the remaining unmatched named arguments (instead of getting a TypeError for named argument being unexpected, such argument gets into **kwargs as an element).
So, perhaps you see a function like this:
def f(*args, **kwargs):
...
You can call it with any parameters you want:
f(1, 2, 3, a=4, b=5, c=6)
Just keep the order: named arguments come after positional arguments.
You can declare a function like this:
f(m1, m2, ..., o1=1, o2=2, ..., *args, **kwargs):
pass
Understanding the following:
m1, m2, ... are mandatory: when you call, you must fill them either positionally or respecting their name.
o1, o2, ... are optional: when you call, you can omit such parameters (omitting them implies not passing them by position nor by name), and they will hold the value after the equal sign (such value is evaluated when the function is declared - avoid using mutable objects as their values).
args and kwargs are what I explained you before: Any unmatched argument by position and by name go into these parameters. With these features, you will have a clear distinction between what is a parameter and what is an argument.
All these parameters are optional. You can choose not to use mandatory and only optionals. You can choose not to use *args but yes **kwargs, and so. But respect the order in the declaration: mandatory, optional, *args, **kwargs.
When you call the method and pass the arguments the semantic is very different so be wary:
f(1) # passes a positional argument. Has nothing to do with the parameter being mandatory.
f(a=1) # passes a named argument. Has nothing to do with the parameter being optional.
f(**i) # UNPACKS the positional arguments. Has nothing to do with the function having a *args parameter, but *args will hold any unpacked -but unmatched- positional argument from i (which is any type of sequence or generator)
f(**d) # UNPACKS its values as named arguments. Has nothing to do with the function having a **kwargs parameter, but **kwargs will hold any unpacked -but unmatched- argument from d (which is a dict having string keys).
When you make the call, you can pass them as you like, which has nothing to do with the actual method signature (i.e. expected parameters), but respect the order as with parameters: positional, named, *positionalUnpack, **keywordUnpack, or you will get a nice TypeError.
Examples:
def f(a, b=1, *args, **kwargs):
pass
Valid calls:
f(1) # a = 1, b = 2, args = (), kwargs = {}
f(*[1]) #a = 1, b = 2, args = (), kwargs = {}
f(*[3, 4]) #a = 3, b = 4, args = (), kwargs = {}
f(**{'a':1, 'b':3}) #a = 1, b=3, args = (), kwargs = {}
f(1, *[2, 3, 4], **{'c': 5}) #a = 1, b=2, args=(3, 4), kwargs = {'c': 5}
Again beware:
Do not pass the same parameter twice (a clash would occur between **unpacked arguments with other named arguments, or positional arguments, or *unpacked arguments).
If you want to pass *args or **kwargs to a super call, ensure using the unpack syntax:
def my_method(self, a, b, *args, **kwargs):
super(MyClass, self).my_method(a+1, b+1, *args, **kwargs)
It's saying that it is passing the local name settings as the argument named settings in the Configurator.
For a function or constructor call of the form x=y, the x is the argument name used locally on the function/constructor side, while y is the name on the caller side. They just happen to be the same name in this case.
That means that you are passing the argument settings to Configurator which contains a variable called settings
here an example, you have a function:
def function_test(a=None, b=None, c=None):
pass
You could call it like that:
c = "something"
function_test(c=c)
which mean you passed the variable c that you created as an argument for the parameter c in the function function_test
Related
I defined a function like this:
def func(must, op1=1, op2=2, op3=3, *arguments, **keywords):
print(must, op1, op2, op3)
for arg in arguments:
print(arg)
for kw in keywords.keys():
print(kw, ":", keywords[kw])
I called it:
func(1, op1=1, op2=2, op3=3, 1, 3)
Of course, I got an error:
Error information
In my mind, *arguments are positional parameter. And the op1, op2, op2 are keyword parameters. So *arguments should be before op1, op2, op3. Then I changed the definition:
def func(must, *arguments, op1=1, op2=2, op3=3, **keywords):
print(must, op1, op2, op3)
for arg in arguments:
print (arg)
for kw in keywords.keys():
print (kw, ":", keywords[kw])
Why doesn't the Python interpreter think the first definition is a mistake?
Hi All,
I updated this topic.
After discuss with my colleague, I think that:
definition of a function, the parameters are default or non-default parameters
call a function, the parameters are positional or keyword parameters
So, whether the parameter is a positional parameter depends on you call the function, not define the function.
While slightly counterintuitive, the first definition is completely unambiguous:
func(must, op1=1, op2=2, op3=3, *args, **kwargs)
This means that op1, op2, and op3 are optional positional arguments. You can't specify any of *args without explicitly setting all three first. You got the error because you attempted to place positional arguments after keywords. It's irrelevant that the keywords name positional arguments. You can make the same call like this:
func(1, 1, 2, 3, 1, 3)
That will not raise an error. Neither will
func(1, 2)
In that case, only op1 will have a non-default value, *args will be empty, and you can set whatever keywords you want, including op2 and op3.
Aside from *args, all positional arguments are named and can be passed in by keyword as well. In practice, though, all arguments that come after the first one passed in as a keyword must be passed in as a keyword. It therefore follows that you can't pass in *args if you pass in any named positional argument as a keyword.
In your second example, you've made the op arguments keyword-only by placing them after the splat (*). Any positional arguments after the first are therefore absorbed into *args.
Keep in mind that keyword-only arguments don't need defaults. A function like def func(*, a): pass can only be invoked as func(a=3) and never as func(3).
On a side note, the splat argument is conventionally named *args and the splatty splat one **kwargs. I have stuck with that convention throughout my answer.
At the first example, you can call your function like this (it's still working):
func(9, 9, 9, 9)
Python determine which parameter is keyword when you call a function.
Here's more example:
def func(a,b,c=1,d): # -> a, b, c, d are parameters and c has default value = 1
pass
func(1, 2, 3, 4) # -> call with 4 postional parameters
func(1, 3, d=3) # -> call with 2 positional parameters and 1 keyword parameters
This question already has answers here:
What does ** (double star/asterisk) and * (star/asterisk) do for parameters?
(25 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
So I have difficulty with the concept of *args and **kwargs.
So far I have learned that:
*args = list of arguments - as positional arguments
**kwargs = dictionary - whose keys become separate keyword arguments and the values become values of these arguments.
I don't understand what programming task this would be helpful for.
Maybe:
I think to enter lists and dictionaries as arguments of a function AND at the same time as a wildcard, so I can pass ANY argument?
Is there a simple example to explain how *args and **kwargs are used?
Also the tutorial I found used just the "*" and a variable name.
Are *args and **kwargs just placeholders or do you use exactly *args and **kwargs in the code?
The syntax is the * and **. The names *args and **kwargs are only by convention but there's no hard requirement to use them.
You would use *args when you're not sure how many arguments might be passed to your function, i.e. it allows you pass an arbitrary number of arguments to your function. For example:
>>> def print_everything(*args):
for count, thing in enumerate(args):
... print( '{0}. {1}'.format(count, thing))
...
>>> print_everything('apple', 'banana', 'cabbage')
0. apple
1. banana
2. cabbage
Similarly, **kwargs allows you to handle named arguments that you have not defined in advance:
>>> def table_things(**kwargs):
... for name, value in kwargs.items():
... print( '{0} = {1}'.format(name, value))
...
>>> table_things(apple = 'fruit', cabbage = 'vegetable')
cabbage = vegetable
apple = fruit
You can use these along with named arguments too. The explicit arguments get values first and then everything else is passed to *args and **kwargs. The named arguments come first in the list. For example:
def table_things(titlestring, **kwargs)
You can also use both in the same function definition but *args must occur before **kwargs.
You can also use the * and ** syntax when calling a function. For example:
>>> def print_three_things(a, b, c):
... print( 'a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}'.format(a,b,c))
...
>>> mylist = ['aardvark', 'baboon', 'cat']
>>> print_three_things(*mylist)
a = aardvark, b = baboon, c = cat
As you can see in this case it takes the list (or tuple) of items and unpacks it. By this it matches them to the arguments in the function. Of course, you could have a * both in the function definition and in the function call.
One place where the use of *args and **kwargs is quite useful is for subclassing.
class Foo(object):
def __init__(self, value1, value2):
# do something with the values
print value1, value2
class MyFoo(Foo):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
# do something else, don't care about the args
print 'myfoo'
super(MyFoo, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
This way you can extend the behaviour of the Foo class, without having to know too much about Foo. This can be quite convenient if you are programming to an API which might change. MyFoo just passes all arguments to the Foo class.
Here's an example that uses 3 different types of parameters.
def func(required_arg, *args, **kwargs):
# required_arg is a positional-only parameter.
print required_arg
# args is a tuple of positional arguments,
# because the parameter name has * prepended.
if args: # If args is not empty.
print args
# kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments,
# because the parameter name has ** prepended.
if kwargs: # If kwargs is not empty.
print kwargs
>>> func()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: func() takes at least 1 argument (0 given)
>>> func("required argument")
required argument
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3')
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3', keyword1=4, keyword2="foo")
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
{'keyword2': 'foo', 'keyword1': 4}
Here's one of my favorite places to use the ** syntax as in Dave Webb's final example:
mynum = 1000
mystr = 'Hello World!'
print("{mystr} New-style formatting is {mynum}x more fun!".format(**locals()))
I'm not sure if it's terribly fast when compared to just using the names themselves, but it's a lot easier to type!
One case where *args and **kwargs are useful is when writing wrapper functions (such as decorators) that need to be able accept arbitrary arguments to pass through to the function being wrapped. For example, a simple decorator that prints the arguments and return value of the function being wrapped:
def mydecorator( f ):
#functools.wraps( f )
def wrapper( *args, **kwargs ):
print "Calling f", args, kwargs
v = f( *args, **kwargs )
print "f returned", v
return v
return wrapper
*args and **kwargs are special-magic features of Python.
Think of a function that could have an unknown number of arguments. For example, for whatever reasons, you want to have function that sums an unknown number of numbers (and you don't want to use the built-in sum function). So you write this function:
def sumFunction(*args):
result = 0
for x in args:
result += x
return result
and use it like: sumFunction(3,4,6,3,6,8,9).
**kwargs has a diffrent function. With **kwargs you can give arbitrary keyword arguments to a function and you can access them as a dictonary.
def someFunction(**kwargs):
if 'text' in kwargs:
print kwargs['text']
Calling someFunction(text="foo") will print foo.
Just imagine you have a function but you don't want to restrict the number of parameter it takes.
Example:
>>> import operator
>>> def multiply(*args):
... return reduce(operator.mul, args)
Then you use this function like:
>>> multiply(1,2,3)
6
or
>>> numbers = [1,2,3]
>>> multiply(*numbers)
6
The names *args and **kwargs or **kw are purely by convention. It makes it easier for us to read each other's code
One place it is handy is when using the struct module
struct.unpack() returns a tuple whereas struct.pack() uses a variable number of arguments. When manipulating data it is convenient to be able to pass a tuple to struck.pack() eg.
tuple_of_data = struct.unpack(format_str, data)
# ... manipulate the data
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, *tuple_of_data)
without this ability you would be forced to write
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, tuple_of_data[0], tuple_of_data[1], tuple_of_data[2],...)
which also means the if the format_str changes and the size of the tuple changes, I'll have to go back and edit that really long line
Note that *args/**kwargs is part of function-calling syntax, and not really an operator. This has a particular side effect that I ran into, which is that you can't use *args expansion with the print statement, since print is not a function.
This seems reasonable:
def myprint(*args):
print *args
Unfortunately it doesn't compile (syntax error).
This compiles:
def myprint(*args):
print args
But prints the arguments as a tuple, which isn't what we want.
This is the solution I settled on:
def myprint(*args):
for arg in args:
print arg,
print
These parameters are typically used for proxy functions, so the proxy can pass any input parameter to the target function.
def foo(bar=2, baz=5):
print bar, baz
def proxy(x, *args, **kwargs): # reqire parameter x and accept any number of additional arguments
print x
foo(*args, **kwargs) # applies the "non-x" parameter to foo
proxy(23, 5, baz='foo') # calls foo with bar=5 and baz=foo
proxy(6)# calls foo with its default arguments
proxy(7, bar='asdas') # calls foo with bar='asdas' and leave baz default argument
But since these parameters hide the actual parameter names, it is better to avoid them.
You can have a look at python docs (docs.python.org in the FAQ), but more specifically for a good explanation the mysterious miss args and mister kwargs (courtesy of archive.org) (the original, dead link is here).
In a nutshell, both are used when optional parameters to a function or method are used.
As Dave says, *args is used when you don't know how many arguments may be passed, and **kwargs when you want to handle parameters specified by name and value as in:
myfunction(myarg=1)
This question already has answers here:
What does ** (double star/asterisk) and * (star/asterisk) do for parameters?
(25 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
So I have difficulty with the concept of *args and **kwargs.
So far I have learned that:
*args = list of arguments - as positional arguments
**kwargs = dictionary - whose keys become separate keyword arguments and the values become values of these arguments.
I don't understand what programming task this would be helpful for.
Maybe:
I think to enter lists and dictionaries as arguments of a function AND at the same time as a wildcard, so I can pass ANY argument?
Is there a simple example to explain how *args and **kwargs are used?
Also the tutorial I found used just the "*" and a variable name.
Are *args and **kwargs just placeholders or do you use exactly *args and **kwargs in the code?
The syntax is the * and **. The names *args and **kwargs are only by convention but there's no hard requirement to use them.
You would use *args when you're not sure how many arguments might be passed to your function, i.e. it allows you pass an arbitrary number of arguments to your function. For example:
>>> def print_everything(*args):
for count, thing in enumerate(args):
... print( '{0}. {1}'.format(count, thing))
...
>>> print_everything('apple', 'banana', 'cabbage')
0. apple
1. banana
2. cabbage
Similarly, **kwargs allows you to handle named arguments that you have not defined in advance:
>>> def table_things(**kwargs):
... for name, value in kwargs.items():
... print( '{0} = {1}'.format(name, value))
...
>>> table_things(apple = 'fruit', cabbage = 'vegetable')
cabbage = vegetable
apple = fruit
You can use these along with named arguments too. The explicit arguments get values first and then everything else is passed to *args and **kwargs. The named arguments come first in the list. For example:
def table_things(titlestring, **kwargs)
You can also use both in the same function definition but *args must occur before **kwargs.
You can also use the * and ** syntax when calling a function. For example:
>>> def print_three_things(a, b, c):
... print( 'a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}'.format(a,b,c))
...
>>> mylist = ['aardvark', 'baboon', 'cat']
>>> print_three_things(*mylist)
a = aardvark, b = baboon, c = cat
As you can see in this case it takes the list (or tuple) of items and unpacks it. By this it matches them to the arguments in the function. Of course, you could have a * both in the function definition and in the function call.
One place where the use of *args and **kwargs is quite useful is for subclassing.
class Foo(object):
def __init__(self, value1, value2):
# do something with the values
print value1, value2
class MyFoo(Foo):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
# do something else, don't care about the args
print 'myfoo'
super(MyFoo, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
This way you can extend the behaviour of the Foo class, without having to know too much about Foo. This can be quite convenient if you are programming to an API which might change. MyFoo just passes all arguments to the Foo class.
Here's an example that uses 3 different types of parameters.
def func(required_arg, *args, **kwargs):
# required_arg is a positional-only parameter.
print required_arg
# args is a tuple of positional arguments,
# because the parameter name has * prepended.
if args: # If args is not empty.
print args
# kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments,
# because the parameter name has ** prepended.
if kwargs: # If kwargs is not empty.
print kwargs
>>> func()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: func() takes at least 1 argument (0 given)
>>> func("required argument")
required argument
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3')
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3', keyword1=4, keyword2="foo")
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
{'keyword2': 'foo', 'keyword1': 4}
Here's one of my favorite places to use the ** syntax as in Dave Webb's final example:
mynum = 1000
mystr = 'Hello World!'
print("{mystr} New-style formatting is {mynum}x more fun!".format(**locals()))
I'm not sure if it's terribly fast when compared to just using the names themselves, but it's a lot easier to type!
One case where *args and **kwargs are useful is when writing wrapper functions (such as decorators) that need to be able accept arbitrary arguments to pass through to the function being wrapped. For example, a simple decorator that prints the arguments and return value of the function being wrapped:
def mydecorator( f ):
#functools.wraps( f )
def wrapper( *args, **kwargs ):
print "Calling f", args, kwargs
v = f( *args, **kwargs )
print "f returned", v
return v
return wrapper
*args and **kwargs are special-magic features of Python.
Think of a function that could have an unknown number of arguments. For example, for whatever reasons, you want to have function that sums an unknown number of numbers (and you don't want to use the built-in sum function). So you write this function:
def sumFunction(*args):
result = 0
for x in args:
result += x
return result
and use it like: sumFunction(3,4,6,3,6,8,9).
**kwargs has a diffrent function. With **kwargs you can give arbitrary keyword arguments to a function and you can access them as a dictonary.
def someFunction(**kwargs):
if 'text' in kwargs:
print kwargs['text']
Calling someFunction(text="foo") will print foo.
Just imagine you have a function but you don't want to restrict the number of parameter it takes.
Example:
>>> import operator
>>> def multiply(*args):
... return reduce(operator.mul, args)
Then you use this function like:
>>> multiply(1,2,3)
6
or
>>> numbers = [1,2,3]
>>> multiply(*numbers)
6
The names *args and **kwargs or **kw are purely by convention. It makes it easier for us to read each other's code
One place it is handy is when using the struct module
struct.unpack() returns a tuple whereas struct.pack() uses a variable number of arguments. When manipulating data it is convenient to be able to pass a tuple to struck.pack() eg.
tuple_of_data = struct.unpack(format_str, data)
# ... manipulate the data
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, *tuple_of_data)
without this ability you would be forced to write
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, tuple_of_data[0], tuple_of_data[1], tuple_of_data[2],...)
which also means the if the format_str changes and the size of the tuple changes, I'll have to go back and edit that really long line
Note that *args/**kwargs is part of function-calling syntax, and not really an operator. This has a particular side effect that I ran into, which is that you can't use *args expansion with the print statement, since print is not a function.
This seems reasonable:
def myprint(*args):
print *args
Unfortunately it doesn't compile (syntax error).
This compiles:
def myprint(*args):
print args
But prints the arguments as a tuple, which isn't what we want.
This is the solution I settled on:
def myprint(*args):
for arg in args:
print arg,
print
These parameters are typically used for proxy functions, so the proxy can pass any input parameter to the target function.
def foo(bar=2, baz=5):
print bar, baz
def proxy(x, *args, **kwargs): # reqire parameter x and accept any number of additional arguments
print x
foo(*args, **kwargs) # applies the "non-x" parameter to foo
proxy(23, 5, baz='foo') # calls foo with bar=5 and baz=foo
proxy(6)# calls foo with its default arguments
proxy(7, bar='asdas') # calls foo with bar='asdas' and leave baz default argument
But since these parameters hide the actual parameter names, it is better to avoid them.
You can have a look at python docs (docs.python.org in the FAQ), but more specifically for a good explanation the mysterious miss args and mister kwargs (courtesy of archive.org) (the original, dead link is here).
In a nutshell, both are used when optional parameters to a function or method are used.
As Dave says, *args is used when you don't know how many arguments may be passed, and **kwargs when you want to handle parameters specified by name and value as in:
myfunction(myarg=1)
I have the following code:
def foo(func, *args, named_arg = None):
return func(*args)
returning a SyntaxError:
File "tester3.py", line 3
def foo(func, *args, named_arg = None):
^
Why is that? And is it possible to define somewhat a function in that way, which takes one argument (func), then a list of variable arguments args before named arguments? If not, what are my possibilities?
The catch-all *args parameter must come after any explicit arguments:
def foo(func, named_arg=None, *args):
If you also add the catch-all **kw keywords parameter to a definition, then that has to come after the *args parameter:
def foo(func, named_arg=None, *args, **kw):
Mixing explicit keyword arguments and the catch-all *args argument does lead to unexpected behaviour; you cannot both use arbitrary positional arguments and explicitly name the keyword arguments you listed at the same time.
Any extra positionals beyond func are first used for named_arg which can also act as a positional argument:
>>> def foo(func, named_arg = None, *args):
... print func, named_arg, args
...
>>> foo(1, 2)
1 2 ()
>>> foo(1, named_arg=2)
1 2 ()
>>> foo(1, 3, named_arg=2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: foo() got multiple values for keyword argument 'named_arg'
>>> foo(1, 2, 3)
1 2 (3,)
This is because the any second positional argument to foo() will always be used for named_arg.
In Python 3, the *args parameter can be placed before the keyword arguments, but that has a new meaning. Normally, keyword parameters can be specified in the call signature as positional arguments (e.g. call your function as foo(somefunc, 'argument') would have 'argument' assigned to named_arg). By placing *args or a plain * in between the positional and the named arguments you exclude the named arguments from being used as positionals; calling foo(somefunc, 'argument') would raise an exception instead.
No, Python 2 does not allow this syntax.
Your options are:
1) move the named arg to appear before *args:
def foo(func, named_arg = None, *args):
...
2) use **kwargs:
def foo(func, *args, **kwagrs):
# extract named_arg from kwargs
...
3) upgrade to Python 3.
change the order of the arguments to this:
def foo(func, named_arg = None, *args):
return func(*args)
According to the docs, no:
Tutorial section 4.7.2 says:
In a function call, keyword arguments must follow positional
arguments.
...and 4.7.3 says about 'Arbitrary argument lists':
Before the variable number of arguments, zero or more normal
arguments may occur.
...so if you're going to use all three argument types, they need to be in the sequence
Positional args
Named args
variable/arbitrary args
This question already has answers here:
What does ** (double star/asterisk) and * (star/asterisk) do for parameters?
(25 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
So I have difficulty with the concept of *args and **kwargs.
So far I have learned that:
*args = list of arguments - as positional arguments
**kwargs = dictionary - whose keys become separate keyword arguments and the values become values of these arguments.
I don't understand what programming task this would be helpful for.
Maybe:
I think to enter lists and dictionaries as arguments of a function AND at the same time as a wildcard, so I can pass ANY argument?
Is there a simple example to explain how *args and **kwargs are used?
Also the tutorial I found used just the "*" and a variable name.
Are *args and **kwargs just placeholders or do you use exactly *args and **kwargs in the code?
The syntax is the * and **. The names *args and **kwargs are only by convention but there's no hard requirement to use them.
You would use *args when you're not sure how many arguments might be passed to your function, i.e. it allows you pass an arbitrary number of arguments to your function. For example:
>>> def print_everything(*args):
for count, thing in enumerate(args):
... print( '{0}. {1}'.format(count, thing))
...
>>> print_everything('apple', 'banana', 'cabbage')
0. apple
1. banana
2. cabbage
Similarly, **kwargs allows you to handle named arguments that you have not defined in advance:
>>> def table_things(**kwargs):
... for name, value in kwargs.items():
... print( '{0} = {1}'.format(name, value))
...
>>> table_things(apple = 'fruit', cabbage = 'vegetable')
cabbage = vegetable
apple = fruit
You can use these along with named arguments too. The explicit arguments get values first and then everything else is passed to *args and **kwargs. The named arguments come first in the list. For example:
def table_things(titlestring, **kwargs)
You can also use both in the same function definition but *args must occur before **kwargs.
You can also use the * and ** syntax when calling a function. For example:
>>> def print_three_things(a, b, c):
... print( 'a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}'.format(a,b,c))
...
>>> mylist = ['aardvark', 'baboon', 'cat']
>>> print_three_things(*mylist)
a = aardvark, b = baboon, c = cat
As you can see in this case it takes the list (or tuple) of items and unpacks it. By this it matches them to the arguments in the function. Of course, you could have a * both in the function definition and in the function call.
One place where the use of *args and **kwargs is quite useful is for subclassing.
class Foo(object):
def __init__(self, value1, value2):
# do something with the values
print value1, value2
class MyFoo(Foo):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
# do something else, don't care about the args
print 'myfoo'
super(MyFoo, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
This way you can extend the behaviour of the Foo class, without having to know too much about Foo. This can be quite convenient if you are programming to an API which might change. MyFoo just passes all arguments to the Foo class.
Here's an example that uses 3 different types of parameters.
def func(required_arg, *args, **kwargs):
# required_arg is a positional-only parameter.
print required_arg
# args is a tuple of positional arguments,
# because the parameter name has * prepended.
if args: # If args is not empty.
print args
# kwargs is a dictionary of keyword arguments,
# because the parameter name has ** prepended.
if kwargs: # If kwargs is not empty.
print kwargs
>>> func()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: func() takes at least 1 argument (0 given)
>>> func("required argument")
required argument
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3')
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
>>> func("required argument", 1, 2, '3', keyword1=4, keyword2="foo")
required argument
(1, 2, '3')
{'keyword2': 'foo', 'keyword1': 4}
Here's one of my favorite places to use the ** syntax as in Dave Webb's final example:
mynum = 1000
mystr = 'Hello World!'
print("{mystr} New-style formatting is {mynum}x more fun!".format(**locals()))
I'm not sure if it's terribly fast when compared to just using the names themselves, but it's a lot easier to type!
One case where *args and **kwargs are useful is when writing wrapper functions (such as decorators) that need to be able accept arbitrary arguments to pass through to the function being wrapped. For example, a simple decorator that prints the arguments and return value of the function being wrapped:
def mydecorator( f ):
#functools.wraps( f )
def wrapper( *args, **kwargs ):
print "Calling f", args, kwargs
v = f( *args, **kwargs )
print "f returned", v
return v
return wrapper
*args and **kwargs are special-magic features of Python.
Think of a function that could have an unknown number of arguments. For example, for whatever reasons, you want to have function that sums an unknown number of numbers (and you don't want to use the built-in sum function). So you write this function:
def sumFunction(*args):
result = 0
for x in args:
result += x
return result
and use it like: sumFunction(3,4,6,3,6,8,9).
**kwargs has a diffrent function. With **kwargs you can give arbitrary keyword arguments to a function and you can access them as a dictonary.
def someFunction(**kwargs):
if 'text' in kwargs:
print kwargs['text']
Calling someFunction(text="foo") will print foo.
Just imagine you have a function but you don't want to restrict the number of parameter it takes.
Example:
>>> import operator
>>> def multiply(*args):
... return reduce(operator.mul, args)
Then you use this function like:
>>> multiply(1,2,3)
6
or
>>> numbers = [1,2,3]
>>> multiply(*numbers)
6
The names *args and **kwargs or **kw are purely by convention. It makes it easier for us to read each other's code
One place it is handy is when using the struct module
struct.unpack() returns a tuple whereas struct.pack() uses a variable number of arguments. When manipulating data it is convenient to be able to pass a tuple to struck.pack() eg.
tuple_of_data = struct.unpack(format_str, data)
# ... manipulate the data
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, *tuple_of_data)
without this ability you would be forced to write
new_data = struct.pack(format_str, tuple_of_data[0], tuple_of_data[1], tuple_of_data[2],...)
which also means the if the format_str changes and the size of the tuple changes, I'll have to go back and edit that really long line
Note that *args/**kwargs is part of function-calling syntax, and not really an operator. This has a particular side effect that I ran into, which is that you can't use *args expansion with the print statement, since print is not a function.
This seems reasonable:
def myprint(*args):
print *args
Unfortunately it doesn't compile (syntax error).
This compiles:
def myprint(*args):
print args
But prints the arguments as a tuple, which isn't what we want.
This is the solution I settled on:
def myprint(*args):
for arg in args:
print arg,
print
These parameters are typically used for proxy functions, so the proxy can pass any input parameter to the target function.
def foo(bar=2, baz=5):
print bar, baz
def proxy(x, *args, **kwargs): # reqire parameter x and accept any number of additional arguments
print x
foo(*args, **kwargs) # applies the "non-x" parameter to foo
proxy(23, 5, baz='foo') # calls foo with bar=5 and baz=foo
proxy(6)# calls foo with its default arguments
proxy(7, bar='asdas') # calls foo with bar='asdas' and leave baz default argument
But since these parameters hide the actual parameter names, it is better to avoid them.
You can have a look at python docs (docs.python.org in the FAQ), but more specifically for a good explanation the mysterious miss args and mister kwargs (courtesy of archive.org) (the original, dead link is here).
In a nutshell, both are used when optional parameters to a function or method are used.
As Dave says, *args is used when you don't know how many arguments may be passed, and **kwargs when you want to handle parameters specified by name and value as in:
myfunction(myarg=1)