Backport from 3.2: improve argument/parameter documentation (issue #15990).
The corresponding 3.x commits are 69d5d834c5cb, 40fd26a4206b, and 74d8a2a20c52.
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Chris Jerdonek
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8da8268b1f
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@ -469,6 +469,27 @@ In the unlikely case that you care about Python versions older than 2.0, use
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apply(g, (x,)+args, kwargs)
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.. _faq-argument-vs-parameter:
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What is the difference between arguments and parameters?
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--------------------------------------------------------
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:term:`Parameters <parameter>` are defined by the names that appear in a
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function definition, whereas :term:`arguments <argument>` are the values
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actually passed to a function when calling it. Parameters define what types of
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arguments a function can accept. For example, given the function definition::
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def func(foo, bar=None, **kwargs):
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pass
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*foo*, *bar* and *kwargs* are parameters of ``func``. However, when calling
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``func``, for example::
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func(42, bar=314, extra=somevar)
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the values ``42``, ``314``, and ``somevar`` are arguments.
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How do I write a function with output parameters (call by reference)?
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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@ -39,16 +39,34 @@ Glossary
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create your own ABCs with the :mod:`abc` module.
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argument
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A value passed to a function or method, assigned to a named local
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variable in the function body. A function or method may have both
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positional arguments and keyword arguments in its definition.
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Positional and keyword arguments may be variable-length: ``*`` accepts
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or passes (if in the function definition or call) several positional
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arguments in a list, while ``**`` does the same for keyword arguments
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in a dictionary.
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A value passed to a :term:`function` (or :term:`method`) when calling the
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function. There are two types of arguments:
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Any expression may be used within the argument list, and the evaluated
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value is passed to the local variable.
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* :dfn:`keyword argument`: an argument preceded by an identifier (e.g.
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``name=``) in a function call or passed as a value in a dictionary
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preceded by ``**``. For example, ``3`` and ``5`` are both keyword
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arguments in the following calls to :func:`complex`::
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complex(real=3, imag=5)
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complex(**{'real': 3, 'imag': 5})
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* :dfn:`positional argument`: an argument that is not a keyword argument.
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Positional arguments can appear at the beginning of an argument list
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and/or be passed as elements of an :term:`iterable` preceded by ``*``.
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For example, ``3`` and ``5`` are both positional arguments in the
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following calls::
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complex(3, 5)
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complex(*(3, 5))
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Arguments are assigned to the named local variables in a function body.
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See the :ref:`calls` section for the rules governing this assignment.
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Syntactically, any expression can be used to represent an argument; the
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evaluated value is assigned to the local variable.
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See also the :term:`parameter` glossary entry and the FAQ question on
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:ref:`the difference between arguments and parameters
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<faq-argument-vs-parameter>`.
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attribute
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A value associated with an object which is referenced by name using
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@ -412,10 +430,7 @@ Glossary
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<sortinghowto>` for examples of how to create and use key functions.
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keyword argument
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Arguments which are preceded with a ``variable_name=`` in the call.
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The variable name designates the local name in the function to which the
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value is assigned. ``**`` is used to accept or pass a dictionary of
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keyword arguments. See :term:`argument`.
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See :term:`argument`.
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lambda
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An anonymous inline function consisting of a single :term:`expression`
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@ -537,12 +552,46 @@ Glossary
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(methods). Also the ultimate base class of any :term:`new-style
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class`.
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parameter
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A named entity in a :term:`function` (or method) definition that
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specifies an :term:`argument` (or in some cases, arguments) that the
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function can accept. There are four types of parameters:
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* :dfn:`positional-or-keyword`: specifies an argument that can be passed
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either :term:`positionally <argument>` or as a :term:`keyword argument
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<argument>`. This is the default kind of parameter, for example *foo*
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and *bar* in the following::
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def func(foo, bar=None): ...
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* :dfn:`positional-only`: specifies an argument that can be supplied only
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by position. Python has no syntax for defining positional-only
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parameters. However, some built-in functions have positional-only
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parameters (e.g. :func:`abs`).
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* :dfn:`var-positional`: specifies that an arbitrary sequence of
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positional arguments can be provided (in addition to any positional
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arguments already accepted by other parameters). Such a parameter can
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be defined by prepending the parameter name with ``*``, for example
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*args* in the following::
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def func(*args, **kwargs): ...
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* :dfn:`var-keyword`: specifies that arbitrarily many keyword arguments
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can be provided (in addition to any keyword arguments already accepted
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by other parameters). Such a parameter can be defined by prepending
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the parameter name with ``**``, for example *kwargs* in the example
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above.
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Parameters can specify both optional and required arguments, as well as
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default values for some optional arguments.
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See also the :term:`argument` glossary entry, the FAQ question on
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:ref:`the difference between arguments and parameters
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<faq-argument-vs-parameter>`, and the :ref:`function` section.
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positional argument
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The arguments assigned to local names inside a function or method,
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determined by the order in which they were given in the call. ``*`` is
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used to either accept multiple positional arguments (when in the
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definition), or pass several arguments as a list to a function. See
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:term:`argument`.
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See :term:`argument`.
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Python 3000
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Nickname for the Python 3.x release line (coined long ago when the release
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