Python Functions

Functions are the most important aspect of an application. A function can be defined as
the organized block of reusable code which can be called whenever required.

Python allows us to divide a large program into the basic building blocks known as
function. The function contains the set of programming statements enclosed by {}. A
function can be called multiple times to provide reusability and modularity to the python
program.

In other words, we can say that the collection of functions creates a program. The
function is also known as procedure or subroutine in other programming languages

Advantage of functions in python

There are the following advantages of C functions.

o By using functions, we can avoid rewriting same logic/code again and again in a
program.
o We can call python functions any number of times in a program and from any
place in a program.
o We can track a large python program easily when it is divided into multiple
functions.

Function calling
In python, a function must be defined before the function calling otherwise the python
interpreter gives an error. Once the function is defined, we can call it from another
function or the python prompt. To call the function, use the function name followed by
the parentheses.

A simple function that prints the message "Hello Word" is given below.

def hello_world():  
    print("hello world")  
  
hello_world()    

Output:

hello world

Parameters in function
The information into the functions can be passed as the parameters. The parameters are
specified in the parentheses. We can give any number of parameters, but we have to
separate them with a comma.
Consider the following example which contains a function that accepts a string as the
parameter and prints it.

Example 1
#defining the function  
def func (name):  
    print("Hi ",name);  
  
#calling the function   
func("Ayush") 

Example 2
#python function to calculate the sum of two variables   
#defining the function  
def sum (a,b):  
    return a+b;  
  
#taking values from the user  
a = int(input("Enter a: "))  
b = int(input("Enter b: "))  
  
#printing the sum of a and b  
print("Sum = ",sum(a,b))  

Call by reference in Python

In python, all the functions are called by reference, i.e., all the changes made to the
reference inside the function revert back to the original value referred by the reference.

However, there is an exception in the case of mutable objects since the changes made to
the mutable objects like string do not revert to the original string rather, a new string
object is made, and therefore the two different objects are printed.

Example 1 Passing Immutable Object (List)

#defining the function  
def change_list(list1):  
    list1.append(20);  
    list1.append(30);  
    print("list inside function = ",list1)  
  
#defining the list  
list1 = [10,30,40,50]  
  
#calling the function   
change_list(list1);  
print("list outside function = ",list1); 
 Output:

list inside function = [10, 30, 40, 50, 20, 30]

list outside function = [10, 30, 40, 50, 20, 30]

Example 2 Passing Mutable Object (String)

#defining the function  
def change_string (str):  
    str = str + " Hows you";  
    print("printing the string inside function :",str);  
  
string1 = "Hi I am there"  
  
#calling the function  
change_string(string1)  
  
print("printing the string outside function :",string1)  

Output:

printing the string inside function : Hi I am there Hows you

printing the string outside function : Hi I am there

Types of arguments
There may be several types of arguments which can be passed at the time of function
calling.

1. Required arguments
2. Keyword arguments
3. Default arguments
4. Variable-length arguments

Required Arguments
Example 1

def func(name):  
    message = "Hi "+name;  
    return message;  
name = input("Enter the name?")  
print(func(name))  

Output:
 Enter the name?John
Hi John

Example 2
#the function calculate returns the sum of two arguments a and b  
def calculate(a,b):  
    return a+b  
calculate(10) # this causes an error as we are missing a required arguments b.  

Output:

TypeError: calculate() missing 1 required positional argument: 'b'

Keyword arguments
Python allows us to call the function with the keyword arguments. This kind of function
call will enable us to pass the arguments in the random order.

The name of the arguments is treated as the keywords and matched in the function
calling and definition. If the same match is found, the values of the arguments are
copied in the function definition.

Consider the following example.

Example 1
#function func is called with the name and message as the keyword arguments  
def func(name,message):  
    print("printing the message with",name,"and ",message)  
func(name = "John",message="hello") #name and message is copied with the values Jo
hn and hello respectively  

Output:

printing the message with John and hello

Example 2 providing the values in different order at the calling

1. #The function simple_interest(p, t, r) is called with the keyword arguments the or
der ofarguments doesn't matter in this case  
def simple_interest(p,t,r):  
    return (p*t*r)/100  
print("Simple Interest: ",simple_interest(t=10,r=10,p=1900))   

Output:

Simple Interest: 1900.0

If we provide the different name of arguments at the time of function call, an error will
be thrown.
Consider the following example.

Example 3
#The function simple_interest(p, t, r) is called with the keyword arguments.   
def simple_interest(p,t,r):  
    return (p*t*r)/100  
  
print("Simple Interest: ",simple_interest(time=10,rate=10,principle=1900)) # doesn't 
find the exact match of the name of the arguments (keywords)  

Output:

TypeError: simple_interest() got an unexpected keyword argument 'time'

The python allows us to provide the mix of the required arguments and keyword
arguments at the time of function call. However, the required argument must not be
given after the keyword argument, i.e., once the keyword argument is encountered in
the function call, the following arguments must also be the keyword arguments.

Consider the following example.

Example 4
def func(name1,message,name2):  
    print("printing the message with",name1,",",message,",and",name2)  
func("John",message="hello",name2="David") #the first argument is not the keyword ar
gument  

Output:

printing the message with John , hello ,and David

The following example will cause an error due to an in-proper mix of keyword and
required arguments being passed in the function call.

Example 5
def func(name1,message,name2):  
    print("printing the message with",name1,",",message,",and",name2)  
func("John",message="hello","David")     

Output:

SyntaxError: positional argument follows keyword argument

Default Arguments
Python allows us to initialize the arguments at the function definition. If the value of any
of the argument is not provided at the time of function call, then that argument can be
initialized with the value given in the definition even if the argument is not specified at
the function call.
Example 1
def printme(name,age=22):  
    print("My name is",name,"and age is",age)  
printme(name = "john") #the variable age is not passed into the function however 
the default value of age is considered in the function  

Output:

My name is john and age is 22

Example 2
def printme(name,age=22):  
    print("My name is",name,"and age is",age)  
printme(name = "john") 
printme(age = 10,name="David") 

Output:

My name is john and age is 22

My name is David and age is 10

Variable length Arguments

In the large projects, sometimes we may not know the number of arguments to be
passed in advance. In such cases, Python provides us the flexibility to provide the
comma separated values which are internally treated as tuples at the function call.

However, at the function definition, we have to define the variable with * (star) as
*<variable - name >.

Consider the following example.

Example
def printme(*names):  
    print("type of passed argument is ",type(names))  
    print("printing the passed arguments...")  
    for name in names:  
        print(name)  
printme("john","David","smith","nick") 

Scope of variables
The scopes of the variables depend upon the location where the variable is being
declared. The variable declared in one part of the program may not be accessible to the
other parts.
In python, the variables are defined with the two types of scopes.

1. Global variables
2. Local variables

The variable defined outside any function is known to have a global scope whereas the
variable defined inside a function is known to have a local scope.

Consider the following example.

Example 1
def print_message():  
message = "hello !! I am going to print a message." # the variable message is local o th
e function itself  
    print(message)  
print_message()  
print(message) # this will cause an error since a local variable cannot be accessible her
e.

Example 2
def calculate(*args):  
    sum=0  
    for arg in args:  
        sum = sum +arg  
    print("The sum is",sum)  
sum=0  
calculate(10,20,30) #60 will be printed as the sum  
print("Value of sum outside the function:",sum) # 0 will be printed  

Output:

The sum is 60
Value of sum outside the function: 0