Python Function Arguments

In Python, function arguments are the values that you pass to a function when calling it. Functions can have different types of arguments, including:

1. Positional Arguments:

def add(x, y):
    return x + y

result = add(3, 4)

2. Keyword Arguments:

def greet(name, greeting="Hello"):
    print(f"{greeting}, {name}!")

greet("Alice", greeting="Hi")

3. Default Values:

def power(base, exponent=2):
    return base ** exponent

result = power(3)  # Uses default exponent (2)

4. Arbitrary Number of Positional Arguments (\*args):

def print_arguments(*args):
    for arg in args:
        print(arg)

print_arguments(1, "hello", [3, 4])

5. Arbitrary Number of Keyword Arguments (\*\*kwargs):

def print_kwargs(**kwargs):
    for key, value in kwargs.items():
        print(f"{key}: {value}")

print_kwargs(name="Alice", age=30, city="Wonderland")

6. Mixing Positional, Default, and Arbitrary Arguments:

def complex_function(x, y=10, *args, **kwargs):
    # Code using x, y, args, and kwargs
    pass

You can mix different types of arguments in a function definition. Positional arguments, default arguments, *args for variable positional arguments, and **kwargs for variable keyword arguments can all be used together.

Argument Order:

When defining a function, the order of the arguments generally follows this pattern:

1. Positional arguments
2. Default arguments
3. *args (variable positional arguments)
4. **kwargs (variable keyword arguments)

When calling a function, you typically provide values in the same order: positional arguments first, followed by keyword arguments.

# Function definition
def example_function(arg1, arg2, default_arg=3, *args, **kwargs):
    # Function body

# Function call
example_function(1, 2, default_arg=4, 5, 6, key1='value1', key2='value2')

Understanding how to use and combine these different types of function arguments allows you to create flexible and versatile functions in Python.