Python - Function Definitions and Calls
Definition
The following code defines a function called times, which returns the product of its two arguments:
def times(x, y): # Create and assign function return x * y # Body executed when called
Calls
The def statement makes a function but does not call it.
After the def has run, you can call the function by adding parentheses after the function's name.
The parentheses may optionally contain one or more object arguments, to be passed to the names in the function's header:
times(2, 4) # Arguments in parentheses
This expression passes two arguments to times.
Arguments are passed by assignment, the name x in the function is assigned the value 2, y is assigned the value 4.
Demo
def times(x, y): # Create and assign function return x * y # Body executed when called # from w ww. j a v a 2s. co m x = times(2, 4) # Arguments in parentheses print( x ) x = times(3.14, 4) # Save the result object print( x )
Result
The function is called a third time with different kinds of objects passed in:
Demo
def times(x, y): # Create and assign function return x * y # Body executed when called # from ww w .j a va2 s . c o m x = times('Ni', 4) # Functions are "typeless" print( x )
Result
In this third call, a string and an integer are passed to x and y, instead of two numbers.
* works on both numbers and sequences.