Functions

What are Functions?

Functions are a construct to structure programs. They are known in most programming languages, sometimes also called subroutines or procedures. Functions are used to utilize code in more than one place in a program. The only way without functions to reuse code consists in copying the code.

A function in Python is defined by a def statement. The general syntax looks like this:

def function-name(Parameter list):
    statements, i.e. the function body
 

The parameter list consists of none or more parameters. Parameters are called arguments, if the function is called. The function body consists of indented statements. The function body gets executed every time the function is called.
Parameter can be mandatory or optional. The optional parameters (zero or more) must follow the mandatory parameters.

Function bodies can contain a return statement. It can be anywhere in the function body. This statement ends the execution of the function call and "returns" the result, i.e. the value of the expression following the return keyword, to the caller. If there is no return statement in the function code, the function ends, when the control flow reaches the end of the function body.

How do you write functions in Python?

As we have seen on previous tutorials, Python makes use of blocks. A block is a area of code of written in the format of:

block_head: 
       1st block line 
       2nd block line 
        ...
 #sample function definition
 def my_function():
        print "Hello From My Function!"

Example of a Function with Optional Parameters

>>> def add(x, y=5):
...     """Return x plus y, optional"""
...     return x + y
... 
>>> 

Calls to this function could look like this:

>>> add(4)
9
>>> add(8,3)
11
>>> 

Docstring

The first statement in the body of a function is usually a string, which can be accessed with function_name.__doc__
This statement is called Docstring.
Example:

>>> execfile("function1.py")
>>> add.__doc__
'Returns x plus y'
>>> add2.__doc__
'Returns x plus y, optional'
>>>

Keyword Parameters

Using keyword parameters is an alternative way to make function calls. The definition of the function doesn't change.
An example:

def sumsub(a, b, c=0, d=0):
    return a - b + c - d
 

Keyword parameters can only be those, which are not used as positional arguments.

>>> execfile("funktion1.py")
>>> sumsub(12,4)
8
>>> sumsub(12,4,27,23)
12
>>> sumsub(12,4,d=27,c=23)
4

Arbitrary Number of Parameters

There are many situations in programming, in which the exact number of necessary parameters cannot be determined a-priori. An arbitrary parameter number can be accomplished in Python with so-called tuple references. An asterisk "*" is used in front of the last parameter name to denote it as a tuple reference. This asterisk shouldn't be mistaken with the C syntax, where this notation is connected with pointers.
Example:

def arbitrary(x, y, *more):
    print "x=", x, ", y=", y 
    print "arbitrary: ", more
 

x and y are regular positional parameters in the previous function. *more is a tuple reference.
Example:

>>> execfile("funktion1.py")
>>> arbitrary(3,4)
x= 3 , x= 4
arbitrary:  ()
>>> arbitrary(3,4, "Hello World", 3 ,4)
x= 3 , x= 4
arbitrary:  ('Hello World', 3, 4)