*args and **kwargs in Python – Beginner’s Guide with Examples and Coding Tasks

Master the use of *args and **kwargs in Python functions with this beginner-friendly guide. Learn how to handle arbitrary positional and keyword arguments, combine them, and apply unpacking with practical examples and coding exercises. Perfect for students and new Python programmers.

Table of Contents

1. Arbitrary Positional Arguments (*args)
2. Arbitrary Keyword Arguments (**kwargs)
3. Combined Use of *args and **kwargs
4. Tasks

1. Arbitrary Positional Arguments (*args)

These allow a function to take any number of positional arguments. Inside the function, *args collects all the positional arguments as a tuple.

• Video: How to Use *args in Python Functions
• Video: Understanding *args in Functions - How to Add Any Number of Arguments with *args

Example:

def greet(*names):
    for name in names:
        print(f"Hello, {name}!")

greet("Ali", "Hamza", "Ahmad")

Output:

Hello, Ali!
Hello, Hamza!
Hello, Ahmad!

In this example, the greet function can take any number of names. The *names collects them into a tuple (names), which can be iterated over.

2. Arbitrary Keyword Arguments (**kwargs)

These allow a function to accept any number of keyword arguments (arguments passed as key-value pairs). Inside the function, **kwargs collects these as a dictionary.

• Video: How to use **kwargs in Python

Example:

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

print_info(name="Ali", age=25, city="Multan")

Output:

name: Ali
age: 25
city: Multan

In this case, the function accepts any number of keyword arguments and collects them into a dictionary (info), which you can then work with inside the function.

3. Combined Use of *args and **kwargs

You can also use both *args and **kwargs in the same function to handle a combination of positional and keyword arguments.

Example:

def display_data(*args, **kwargs):
    print("Positional arguments:", args)
    print("Keyword arguments:", kwargs)

display_data(1, 2, 3, name="Ali", age=25)

Output:

Positional arguments: (1, 2, 3)
Keyword arguments: {'name': 'Ali', 'age': 25}

Key Points:

• *args collects all positional arguments into a tuple.
• **kwargs collects all keyword arguments into a dictionary.
• You can use both *args and **kwargs together to handle any type of arguments passed to a function.

Based on the *args and **kwargs overview from the page you shared, here are beginner-friendly coding tasks to help solidify understanding of these concepts:

4. Tasks

4.1 Sum Any Numbers

• Objective: Create sum_all(*nums) that returns the sum of any passed numbers.

• Example:

  def sum_all(*nums):
      return sum(nums)
  
  print(sum_all(1, 2, 3, 4))  # Should print 10
  

4.2 Keyword Profile Constructor

• Objective: Make construct_profile(**kwargs) that returns a user info dictionary.

• Example:

  def construct_profile(**kwargs):
      return kwargs
  
  profile = construct_profile(name="Ayesha", age=30, profession="Engineer")
  print(profile)
  

4.3 Mixed Arguments Logger

• Objective: Define log(*args, **kwargs) that prints each positional argument and each key-value pair on separate lines.

• Example:

  def log(*args, **kwargs):
      for a in args:
          print(f"ARG: {a}")
      for k, v in kwargs.items():
          print(f"KWARG: {k} = {v}")
  
  log(10, 20, user="Ali", status="active")
  

4.5 Unpacking with * and **

• Objective: Practice unpacking lists and dictionaries into function calls.

• Example:

  def multiply(a, b, c):
      print(a * b * c)
  
  nums = [2, 3, 4]
  multiply(*nums)  # Unpacks to multiply(2,3,4)
  
  def print_person(name, age, city):
      print(f"{name}, {age}, from {city}")
  
  info = {"name": "Sara", "age": 28, "city": "Lahore"}
  print_person(**info)
  

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