Append a tuple to a list - python

Given a tuple (specifically, a functions varargs), I want to prepend a list containing one or more items, then call another function with the result as a list. So far, the best I've come up with is:
def fn(*args):
l = ['foo', 'bar']
l.extend(args)
fn2(l)
Which, given Pythons usual terseness when it comes to this sort of thing, seems like it takes 2 more lines than it should. Is there a more pythonic way?

You can convert the tuple to a list, which will allow you to concatenate it to the other list. ie:
def fn(*args):
fn2(['foo', 'bar'] + list(args))

If your fn2 took varargs also, you wouldn't need to build the combined list:
def fn2(*l):
print l
def fn(*args):
fn2(1, 2, *args)
fn(10, 9, 8)
produces
(1, 2, 10, 9, 8)

Related

How to apply some operation to each element of a tuple

I have a tuple like (p1, p2) (for example (5,3) or (2,1))
I want to apply the same operation to each element of the tuple. (Incidentally this operation will give for each element another tuple, so I will have a tuple of tuples but this is not a necessary condition)
First I thought something like
for element in (3,2):
res=function(element)
but first, this doesn't seem a elegant solution and two, I would still have to form a tuple from each res to get a (function(3),function(2)) solution
How can I apply a function (with several arguments) to each element of the tuple once and get a tuple of returned values?
If I understand you question correctly, map should to the job as well:
tuple(map(func, tpl))
where func is a one-argument function you defined.
Now, if you have a function with several arguments you would like to apply to each element, like:
def func(x, y, z): return x*y+z
I assume that 2 elements (let's take y and z) are fixed, while x will be determined by the value in the tuple.
There are two approaches in my view:
Either you define a new function with 2 fixed arguments and map:
def func1(x): return func(x, 3, 2)
tuple(map(func1, tpl))
Or map as follows (I think it is less elegant, but it is a matter of tastes, maybe):
tuple(map(lambda x: func(x, 3, 2), tpl))
One approach uses a list comprehension:
def add_one(x):
return x + 1
tpl = (5, 3)
output = tuple([add_one(x) for x in tpl])
print(output) # (6, 4)
You may consider using the generator comprehension then convert it to tuple:
>>> data = (3, 5, 7, 9)
>>> tuple((function(x) for x in data))

is there a better way to append the parameters in to list for Python?

Write a function called append_three_elements. This function takes four arguments as parameters. First is a list that we will be appending to, and the next three and values to be added to the list. This function should return a new list with the three values appended in order at the end.
For example,
append_three_elements([], 1, 2, 3)
you would expect to return
[1, 2, 3]
def append_three_elements(lst, a, b, c):
lst1 = lst.copy()
lst1.append(a)
lst1.append(b)
lst1.append(c)
return lst1
It's a recursive function without an end. It will keep going round and around without ever stopping.
Try this instead:
def append_three_elements(a, b, c, lst):
new_lst = lst.copy()
for i in (a, b, c):
new_lst.append(i)
return new_lst
This takes a copy of the list (if you just use new_lst = lst, it will still refer to the same object), then appends each of the three different values before returning a new list (it doesn't modify the original).
A fun & short solution. Mark's solution, however, is more specialized and is likely the right answer you are looking for.
def append_three_elements(lst, *args):
return lst + list(args)
lst = append_three_elements(['lol'], 1, 2, 3)
print(lst) # >>> ['lol', 1, 2, 3]

choosing a random number from a tuple + some numbers

I have a tuple of numbers, and I want to choose a random number from my tuple in addition with a certain number. For example:
my_tuple = (1,2,3)
and I have the number 4. I want to choose a random number from the numbers 1,2,3,4 (without changing the tuple of course).
I tried:
my_tp = (1, 2, 3)
a = random.choice(list(my_tp).append(4))
print(a)
I'm new to python. I tried converting the tuple to a list, and then performing the random function.
The code above didn't work. Got the error
object of type 'NoneType' has no len()
Would love some help.
list.append returns none
Once converting to a list as you have done, appending will modify that list but return none so that is the source of your error.
To get round that you can either convert the tuple to a list then append 4 to it, then use random.choice, or in just one step, you can concatenate a list of [4] with the + operand.
This approach is much simpler:
import random
my_tuple = (1,2,3)
random.choice(list(my_tuple) + [4])
Hope this helps and clears some things up! :)
Update:
If you want to just randomly select from the tuple without the last item, then just slice the list with the normal syntax:
random.choice(list(my_tuple)[:-1])
The method list.append alters the provided list and returns None, which explains the exception you got. To get the desired result, you can implicitly use the tuple.__add__ method, which will return a new tuple.
values = (1, 2, 3)
random.choice(values + (4,))
If you want to remove values in a concise-ish fashion, using a set might be appropriate.
values = {1, 2, 3}
random.choice(list(values - {3}))
You can try:
my_tuple = (1,2,3)
random.choice((*my_tuple, 4))
Where (*my_tuple, 4) creates a new tuple with the unpacked content of my_tuple and 4.

What is this construct called in python: ( x, y )

What is this called in python:
[('/', MainPage)]
Is that an array .. of ... erhm one dictionary?
Is that
()
A tuple? ( or whatever they call it? )
Its a list with a single tuple.
Since no one has answered this bit yet:
A tuple? ( or whatever they call it? )
The word "tuple" comes from maths. In maths, we might talk about (ordered) pairs, if we're doing 2d geometry. Moving to three dimensions means we need triples. In higher dimensions, we need quadruples, quintuples, and, uh, whatever the prefix is for six, and so on. This starts to get to be a pain, and mathematicians also love generalising ("let's work in n dimensions today!"), so they started using the term "n-tuple" for an ordered list of n things (usually numbers).
After that, a bit of natural laziness is all you need to drop the "n-" and we end up with tuples.
Note that this:
("is not a tuple")
A tuple is defined by the commas, except in the case of the zero-length tuple. This:
"is a tuple",
because of the comma at the end. The parentheses just enforce grouping (again, except in the case of a zero-length tuple.
That's a list of tuples.
This is a list of integers: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
This is also a list of integers: [1]
This is a (string, integer) tuple: ("hello world", 42)
This is a list of (string, integer) tuples: [("a", 1), ("b", 2), ("c", 3)]
And so is this: [("a", 1)]
In Python, there's not much difference between lists and tuples. However, they are conceptually different. An easy way to think of it is that a list contains lots of items of the same type (homogeneous) , and a tuple contains a fixed number of items of different types (heterogeneous). An easy way to remember this is that lists can be appended to, and tuples cannot, because appending to a list makes sense and appending to a tuple doesn't.
Python doesn't enforce these distinctions -- in Python, you can append to a tuple with +, or store heterogeneous types in a list.
Yes, it's a tuple.
They look like this:
()
(foo,)
(foo, bar)
(foo, bar, baz)
etc.
[('/', MainPage)]
That's a list consisting of a two element tuple.
()
That's a zero element tuple.
It is a list of tuple(s). You can verify that by
x=[('/', MainPage)]
print type(x) # You will find a <list> type here
print type(x[0]) # You will find a <tuple> type here
You can build a dictionary from this type of structure (may be more tuple inside the list) with this code
my_dict = dict(x) # x=[('/',MainPage)]
It is a list of tuples containing one tuple.
A tuple is just like a list except that it is immutable, meaning that it can't be changed once it's created. You can't add, remove, or change elements in a tuple. If you want your tuple to be different, you have to create a new tuple with the new data. This may sound like a pain but in reality tuples have many benefits both in code safety and speed.
It's a list of just one tuple. That tuple has two elements, a string and the object MainPage whatever it is.
Both lists and tuples are ordered groups of object, it doesn't matter what kind of object, they can be heterogeneous in both cases.
The main difference between lists and tuples is that tuples are immutable, just like strings.
For example we can define a list and a tuple:
>>> L = ['a', 1, 5, 'b']
>>> T = ('a', 1, 5, 'b')
we can modify elements of L simply by assigning them a new value
>>> print L
['a', 1, 5, 'b']
>>> L[1] = 'c'
>>> print L
['a', 'c', 5, 'b']
This is not true for tuples
>>> print T
('a', 1, 5, 'b')
>>> T[1] = 'c'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
This is because they are immutable.
Tuples' elements may be mutable, and you can modify them, for example:
>>> T = (3, ['a', 1, 2], 'lol')
>>> T[1]
['a', 1, 2]
>>> T[1][0] = 'b'
>>> T
(3, ['b', 1, 2], 'lol')
but the list we edited is still the same object, we didn't replaced the tuple's element.

Passing functions which have multiple return values as arguments in Python

So, Python functions can return multiple values. It struck me that it would be convenient (though a bit less readable) if the following were possible.
a = [[1,2],[3,4]]
def cord():
return 1, 1
def printa(y,x):
print a[y][x]
printa(cord())
...but it's not. I'm aware that you can do the same thing by dumping both return values into temporary variables, but it doesn't seem as elegant. I could also rewrite the last line as "printa(cord()[0], cord()[1])", but that would execute cord() twice.
Is there an elegant, efficient way to do this? Or should I just see that quote about premature optimization and forget about this?
printa(*cord())
The * here is an argument expansion operator... well I forget what it's technically called, but in this context it takes a list or tuple and expands it out so the function sees each list/tuple element as a separate argument.
It's basically the reverse of the * you might use to capture all non-keyword arguments in a function definition:
def fn(*args):
# args is now a tuple of the non-keyworded arguments
print args
fn(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
prints (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
fn(*[1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
does the same.
Try this:
>>> def cord():
... return (1, 1)
...
>>> def printa(y, x):
... print a[y][x]
...
>>> a=[[1,2],[3,4]]
>>> printa(*cord())
4
The star basically says "use the elements of this collection as positional arguments." You can do the same with a dict for keyword arguments using two stars:
>>> a = {'a' : 2, 'b' : 3}
>>> def foo(a, b):
... print a, b
...
>>> foo(**a)
2 3
Actually, Python doesn't really return multiple values, it returns one value which can be multiple values packed into a tuple. Which means that you need to "unpack" the returned value in order to have multiples.
A statement like
x,y = cord()
does that, but directly using the return value as you did in
printa(cord())
doesn't, that's why you need to use the asterisk. Perhaps a nice term for it might be "implicit tuple unpacking" or "tuple unpacking without assignment".

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