What are *args and **kwargs in Python?

Python
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In Python, *args and **kwargs are versatile constructs designed to enhance flexibility in function definitions. In simple words:

  • *args allows a function to accept any number of positional arguments.
  • **kwargs facilitates the handling of keyword arguments with variable names.

This thread explores the usage of *args and **kwargs, illuminating their roles in simplifying function design and enabling adaptability within Python programs.

The *args argument:

  • When you are not sure how many arguments will be passed to a function, you can use the *args syntax to accept a variable number of arguments.
  • This is useful when you want to pass a list or tuple of values to the function, and you don’t want to specify each argument individually.
  • The *args syntax allows you to pass any number of arguments to the function, which will be stored as a tuple inside the function.
  • Here is an example of the *args argument:

The **kwargs argument:

  • The **kwargs syntax allows you to accept a variable number of keyword arguments in a function.
  • This is useful when you don’t know how many keyword arguments will be passed to the function and you want to handle them flexibly.
  • The keyword arguments are stored as a dictionary inside the function, and you can access them using the keys of the dictionary.
  • Here is an example of the **kwargs argument: