*args vs **kwargs in Python

By Lenin Mishra

Youtube Video

In Python functions, we had talked about the advantages of using Variable Length arguments using the * symbol.

I Python there are actually 2 ways to pass in variable length arguments.

1. *args (Variable Length arguments)
2. **kwargs (Variable Length Keyword arguments)

Importance of *args and **kwargs in Python

Sometimes, you are unsure of how many parameters you need to define in your function. Let’s look at an example.

Code

def addition(x, y):
    print("Value of x is:", x)
    print("Value of y is:", y)
    total = x+y
    return total

result1 = addition(5, 10)
print(result1)

Output

Value of x is: 5
Value of y is: 10
15

The addition function defined above can only add two numbers. What if you want to add more than 2 numbers? Would you be adding/removing parameters as your requirements keep changing? No!

For this purpose, you can use variable length arguments. The parameter for using variable length arguments is defined by using a *(for *args) or **(for **kwargs) in front of the parameter name.

*args in Python

By using *args in your function definition, you can match and collect remaining positional arguments in the form of a tuple. Let’s revisit the addition function above by using *args.

Code

def addition(*x):
    print(x)
    sum = 0
    for num in x:
        sum += num
    print(sum)

result = addition(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Output

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
15

**kwargs in Python

**kwargs in Python function definitions can be used to pass keyworded variable-length arguments. Keyword arguments need a double star ** in front of them.

The arguments you pass as **kwargs will be interpreted by Python as a dictionary.

Code

def employee_details(**kwargs):
    for key, value in kwargs.items():
        print("%s = %s" % (key, value))

employee_details(name='Pylenin',
                 job='Developer',
                 salary='NA')

Output

name = Pylenin
job = Developer
salary = NA

How to position *args and **kwargs in a function

The general syntax of a function is

def func(x, *args, **kwargs)

This should be the order in which you should pass arguments in your Python functions. Let’s look at an example.

Code

def pretty_printing(x, *args, **kwargs):
    print(x)
    print(args)
    print(kwargs)

pretty_printing("Lenin", "Mishra", "Pylenin", job="Dreamer")

Output

Lenin
('Mishra', 'Pylenin')
{'job': 'Dreamer'}

The function definition starts with a fixed length parameter, so, Python takes in the argument Lenin for parameter x.

Since, no more fixed length parameters are defined, Python takes in the next 2 arguments as part of *args variable length argument.

Finally, it encounters a keyword based argument and Python takes it in as **kwargs variable length argument.

Let’s say, we remove **kwargs from our function definition.

Code

def pretty_printing(x, *args):
    print(x)
    print(args)
    print(kwargs)

pretty_printing("Lenin", "Mishra", "Pylenin", job="Dreamer")

Output

TypeError: pretty_printing() got an 
unexpected keyword argument 'job'

As you can see, Python now throws a TypeError. Why?

To pass in keyword arguments, you need to satisfy either of the two requirements.

1. Have a parameter defined in your function which is same as the keyword.

   def pretty_printing(x, *args, job):
       print(x)
       print(args)
       print(job)
   
   pretty_printing("Lenin", "Mishra", "Pylenin", job="Dreamer")

2. Use **kwargs in function definition

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