What is the * operator in Python for lists?

What is the * operator in Python for lists?

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In Python, the * operator has a special meaning when used with lists. It's called the "splat" or "unpacking" operator. When you use * before an expression that evaluates to a list (or tuple), it "unravels" the list into separate elements.

Here are some examples to demonstrate its usage:

Example 1: Unpacking a list

Suppose you have a function that takes multiple arguments:

def greet(name, *args):
print(f"Hello, {name}!")

In this case, *args is a special syntax called the "splat" or "variable-length argument list". It allows the function to accept any number of additional arguments, which are stored in a tuple called args.

Now, let's call the function with a few arguments:

greet("John", "a", "b", "c")

This will print: "Hello, John!". The extra arguments ("a", "b", and "c") are stored in the args tuple.

Example 2: Unpacking a list with a dictionary

You can also use the * operator to unpack a dictionary into separate key-value pairs. For example:

d = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}
print(dict(*d.items()))

This will print: {("a", 1), ("b", 2), ("c", 3)}, which is the same as dict(d.items()).

Example 3: Unpacking a list with function arguments

Sometimes you might need to pass a list of values to a function that expects separate arguments. You can use the * operator for this:

def foo(x, y, z):
print(f"Values are: {x}, {y}, {z}")
args = [1, 2, 3]
foo(*args)

This will print: "Values are: 1, 2, 3".

In summary, the * operator in Python is used to "unpack" a list (or tuple) into separate elements, which can be useful for passing arguments to functions or iterating over lists.

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