❮ Built-in Functions Show
ExampleReturn the type of these objects: a = ('apple', 'banana', 'cherry') x = type(a) Try it Yourself » Definition and UsageThe
Syntaxtype(object, bases, dict) Parameter Values
❮ Built-in Functions A function is a block of code which only runs when it is called. You can pass data, known as parameters, into a function. A function can return data as a result. Creating a FunctionIn Python a function is defined using the def keyword: Example def my_function(): Calling a FunctionTo call a function, use the function name followed by parenthesis: Example def my_function(): my_function() Try it Yourself » ArgumentsInformation can be passed into functions as arguments. Arguments are specified after the function name, inside the parentheses. You can add as many arguments as you want, just separate them with a comma. The following example has a function with one argument (fname). When the function is called, we pass along a first name, which is used inside the function to print the full name: Example def my_function(fname): my_function("Emil") Try it Yourself » Arguments are often shortened to args in Python documentations. Parameters or Arguments?The terms parameter and argument can be used for the same thing: information that are passed into a function. From a function's perspective: A parameter is the variable listed inside the parentheses in the function definition. An argument is the value that is sent to the function when it is called. Number of ArgumentsBy default, a function must be called with the correct number of arguments. Meaning that if your function expects 2 arguments, you have to call the function with 2 arguments, not more, and not less. ExampleThis function expects 2 arguments, and gets 2 arguments: def my_function(fname, lname): my_function("Emil", "Refsnes") Try it Yourself » If you try to call the function with 1 or 3 arguments, you will get an error: ExampleThis function expects 2 arguments, but gets only 1: def my_function(fname, lname): my_function("Emil") Try it Yourself » Arbitrary Arguments, *argsIf you do not know how many arguments that will be passed into your function, add a This way the function will receive a tuple of arguments, and can access the items accordingly: ExampleIf the number of arguments is unknown,
add a def my_function(*kids): my_function("Emil", "Tobias", "Linus") Try it Yourself » Arbitrary Arguments are often shortened to *args in Python documentations. Keyword ArgumentsYou can also send arguments with the key = value syntax. This way the order of the arguments does not matter. Example def my_function(child3, child2, child1): my_function(child1 = "Emil", child2 = "Tobias", child3 = "Linus") Try it Yourself » The phrase Keyword Arguments are often shortened to kwargs in Python documentations. Arbitrary Keyword Arguments, **kwargsIf you do not know how many keyword arguments that will be passed into your function, add two asterisk: This way the function will receive a dictionary of arguments, and can access the items accordingly: ExampleIf the number of keyword arguments is unknown, add a double def my_function(**kid): my_function(fname = "Tobias", lname = "Refsnes") Try it Yourself » Arbitrary Kword Arguments are often shortened to **kwargs in Python documentations. Default Parameter ValueThe following example shows how to use a default parameter value. If we call the function without argument, it uses the default value: Example def my_function(country = "Norway"): my_function("Sweden") Try it Yourself » Passing a List as an ArgumentYou can send any data types of argument to a function (string, number, list, dictionary etc.), and it will be treated as the same data type inside the function. E.g. if you send a List as an argument, it will still be a List when it reaches the function: Example def my_function(food): fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] my_function(fruits) Try it Yourself » Return ValuesTo let a function return a value, use the Example def my_function(x): Try it Yourself » The pass Statement
RecursionPython also accepts function recursion, which means a defined function can call itself. Recursion is a common mathematical and programming concept. It means that a function calls itself. This has the benefit of meaning that you can loop through data to reach a result. The developer should be very careful with recursion as it can be quite easy to slip into writing a function which never terminates, or one that uses excess amounts of memory or processor power. However, when written correctly recursion can be a very efficient and mathematically-elegant approach to programming. In this example, tri_recursion() is a function that we have defined to call itself ("recurse"). We use the k variable as the data, which decrements (-1) every time we recurse. The recursion ends when the condition is not greater than 0 (i.e. when it is 0). To a new developer it can take some time to work out how exactly this works, best way to find out is by testing and modifying it. ExampleRecursion Example def tri_recursion(k): print("\n\nRecursion Example Results") Try it Yourself » Test Yourself With ExercisesExercise:Create a function named : print("Hello from a function") Start the Exercise What are the 4 types of functions in Python?The following are the different types of Python Functions:. Python Built-in Functions.. Python Recursion Functions.. Python Lambda Functions.. Python User-defined Functions.. How many types of function are there in Python?There are three types of functions in Python: Built-in functions, such as help() to ask for help, min() to get the minimum value, print() to print an object to the terminal,… You can find an overview with more of these functions here.
What are the different functions in Python?Python Built-in Functions. print( ) function.. type( ) function.. input( ) function.. abs( ) function.. pow( ) function.. dir( ) function.. sorted( ) function.. max( ) function.. What are the 3 different function in Python?There are three functions in python that provide vast practicality and usefulness when programming. These three functions, which provide a functional programming style within the object-oriented python language, are the map(), filter(), and reduce() functions.
|