What Does ** (Double Star/Asterisk) and * (Star/Asterisk) Do for Parameters?
What Do *Args and **Kwargs Mean? Def Foo(X, Y, *Args): Def Bar(X, Y, **Kwargs): 4 23 Answers the *Args and **Kwargs Is a Common Idiom to Allow Arbitrary Number...
What do *args and **kwargs mean?
def foo(x, y, *args):
def bar(x, y, **kwargs):
23 Answers
The *args and **kwargs is a common idiom to allow arbitrary number of arguments to functions as described in the section more on defining functions in the Python documentation.
The *args will give you all function parameters as a tuple:
def foo(*args):
for a in args:
print(a)
foo(1)
# 1
foo(1,2,3)
# 1
# 2
# 3
The **kwargs will give you all
keyword arguments except for those corresponding to a formal parameter as a dictionary.
def bar(**kwargs):
for a in kwargs:
print(a, kwargs[a])
bar(name='one', age=27)
# name one
# age 27
Both idioms can be mixed with normal arguments to allow a set of fixed and some variable arguments:
def foo(kind, *args, **kwargs):
pass
It is also possible to use this the other way around:
def foo(a, b, c):
print(a, b, c)
obj = {'b':10, 'c':'lee'}
foo(100,**obj)
# 100 10 lee
Another usage of the *l idiom is to unpack argument lists when calling a function.
def foo(bar, lee):
print(bar, lee)
l = [1,2]
foo(*l)
# 1 2
In Python 3 it is possible to use *l on the left side of an assignment (Extended Iterable Unpacking), though it gives a list instead of a tuple in this context:
first, *rest = [1,2,3,4]
first, *l, last = [1,2,3,4]
Also Python 3 adds new semantic (refer PEP 3102):
def func(arg1, arg2, arg3, *, kwarg1, kwarg2):
pass
For example the following works in python 3 but not python 2:
>>> x = [1, 2]
>>> [*x]
[1, 2]
>>> [*x, 3, 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> x = {1:1, 2:2}
>>> x
{1: 1, 2: 2}
>>> {**x, 3:3, 4:4}
{1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3, 4: 4}
Such function accepts only 3 positional arguments, and everything after * can only be passed as keyword arguments.
Note:
- A Python
dict, semantically used for keyword argument passing, are arbitrarily ordered. However, in Python 3.6, keyword arguments are guaranteed to remember insertion order. - "The order of elements in
**kwargsnow corresponds to the order in which keyword arguments were passed to the function." - What’s New In Python 3.6 - In fact, all dicts in CPython 3.6 will remember insertion order as an implementation detail, this becomes standard in Python 3.7.
It's also worth noting that you can use * and ** when calling functions as well. This is a shortcut that allows you to pass multiple arguments to a function directly using either a list/tuple or a dictionary. For example, if you have the following function:
def foo(x,y,z):
print("x=" + str(x))
print("y=" + str(y))
print("z=" + str(z))
You can do things like:
>>> mylist = [1,2,3]
>>> foo(*mylist)
x=1
y=2
z=3
>>> mydict = {'x':1,'y':2,'z':3}
>>> foo(**mydict)
x=1
y=2
z=3
>>> mytuple = (1, 2, 3)
>>> foo(*mytuple)
x=1
y=2
z=3
Note: The keys in mydict have to be named exactly like the parameters of function foo. Otherwise it will throw a TypeError:
>>> mydict = {'x':1,'y':2,'z':3,'badnews':9}
>>> foo(**mydict)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: foo() got an unexpected keyword argument 'badnews'
The single * means that there can be any number of extra positional arguments. foo() can be invoked like foo(1,2,3,4,5). In the body of foo() param2 is a sequence containing 2-5.
The double ** means there can be any number of extra named parameters. bar() can be invoked like bar(1, a=2, b=3). In the body of bar() param2 is a dictionary containing {'a':2, 'b':3 }
With the following code:
def foo(param1, *param2):
print(param1)
print(param2)
def bar(param1, **param2):
print(param1)
print(param2)
foo(1,2,3,4,5)
bar(1,a=2,b=3)
the output is
1
(2, 3, 4, 5)
1
{'a': 2, 'b': 3}
What does
**(double star) and*(star) do for parameters?
They allow for functions to be defined to accept and for users to pass any number of arguments, positional (*) and keyword (**).
Must Read
Defining Functions
*args allows for any number of optional positional arguments (parameters), which will be assigned to a tuple named args.
**kwargs allows for any number of optional keyword arguments (parameters), which will be in a dict named kwargs.
You can (and should) choose any appropriate name, but if the intention is for the arguments to be of non-specific semantics, args and kwargs are standard names.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
