How to construct dynamic function invocation with variable arguments in Python

Question

I'm attempting to wrap a call to an operation with a variable argument list into a generalized function with fixed arguments like this:

def vectorizeIt(args, op)

op is a function with a variable number of arguments and args is a list with the arguments I'd like to pass to it. For example if len(args) == 3 then I'd like to call op like this: op(args[0],args[1],args[2]). As far as I can tell, op needs to have the arguments explicitly passed like that; I can't change the argument list to just be a single list or dictionary. Any suggestions about how to do this are appreciated.

unutbu · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-13 23:21:36Z

4

Use the "splat" operator * to apply an arbitrary number of arguments to op:

def vectorizeIt(args, op):
    op(*args)

Reference:

Salty Crane: How to use *args and **kwargs (also linked aboved)
Unpacking argument lists (official docs)

edited Nov 13, 2011 at 23:21

answered Nov 13, 2011 at 23:13

unutbu

886k197 gold badges1.9k silver badges1.7k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Rich Over a year ago

Thanks. Seems like I can skip vectorizeIt all together!

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to construct dynamic function invocation with variable arguments in Python

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related