Is there a clever way to pass arguments

Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
For example, my program does the following:

testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])

Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
I cannot change the function definition.

Thanks,
Bruce

On 09/08/2012 01:41, bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
> Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
> For example, my program does the following:
>
> testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])
>
> Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
> I cannot change the function definition.
>
> Thanks,
> Bruce
>

testData(*z)

assuming that there are exactly 8 entries in z

see
http://docs.python.org/dev/tutorial/...ning-functions

~Andrew

On 08/08/2012 08:41 PM, bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
> Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
> For example, my program does the following:
>
> testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])
>
> Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
> I cannot change the function definition.
>
> Thanks,
> Bruce
If a function is expecting exactly 8 arguments, and z is a list of
length 8, you can call the function like:

testData(*z)

if z is longer, then you'd need something like (untested)
testData(*z[:8])

The * basically turns a list into separate arguments, and these are then
applied to the formal parameters.

--

DaveA

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 9:07:04 PM UTC-4, Dave Angel wrote:
> On 08/08/2012 08:41 PM, bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
>
> > For example, my program does the following:
>
> >
>
> > testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])
>
> >
>
> > Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
>
> > I cannot change the function definition.
>
> >
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Bruce
>
> If a function is expecting exactly 8 arguments, and z is a list of
>
> length 8, you can call the function like:
>
>
>
> testData(*z)
>
>
>
> if z is longer, then you'd need something like (untested)
>
> testData(*z[:8])
>
>
>
> The * basically turns a list into separate arguments, and these are then
>
> applied to the formal parameters.
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> DaveA








Dave, your solution works!

def testData (z0, z1, z2, z3, z4, z5, z6, z7):
print (z0, z1, z2, z3, z4, z5, z6, z7)

z = []
z.append(0)
z.append(1)
z.append(2)
z.append(3)
z.append(4)
z.append(5)
z.append(6)
z.append(7)

testData(*z[:8])

Thank you,
Bruce

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 9:07:04 PM UTC-4, Dave Angel wrote:
> On 08/08/2012 08:41 PM, bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
>
> > For example, my program does the following:
>
> >
>
> > testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])
>
> >
>
> > Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
>
> > I cannot change the function definition.
>
> >
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Bruce
>
> If a function is expecting exactly 8 arguments, and z is a list of
>
> length 8, you can call the function like:
>
>
>
> testData(*z)
>
>
>
> if z is longer, then you'd need something like (untested)
>
> testData(*z[:8])
>
>
>
> The * basically turns a list into separate arguments, and these are then
>
> applied to the formal parameters.
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> DaveA








Dave, your solution works!

def testData (z0, z1, z2, z3, z4, z5, z6, z7):
print (z0, z1, z2, z3, z4, z5, z6, z7)

z = []
z.append(0)
z.append(1)
z.append(2)
z.append(3)
z.append(4)
z.append(5)
z.append(6)
z.append(7)

testData(*z[:8])

Thank you,
Bruce

On Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:20:40 -0700, bruceg113355 wrote:

> z = []
> z.append(0)
> z.append(1)
> z.append(2)
> z.append(3)
> z.append(4)
> z.append(5)
> z.append(6)
> z.append(7)

That can be written as:

z = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Or better still:

z = range(8) # In Python 3, use list(range(8)) instead.



--
Steven

bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
> Is there a way in Python to pass arguments without listing each argument?
> For example, my program does the following:
>
> testData (z[0], z[1], z[2], z[3], z[4], z[5], z[6], z[7])
>
> Is there a clever way to pass arguments in a single statement knowing that each argument is a sequential index from a list?
> I cannot change the function definition.
>
> Thanks,
> Bruce
>
testData(*z)

or better (imo)

testData(z) and make testData handle a list (8 parameters, that's a lot
of parameters).

JM

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 7:05 PM, Jean-Michel Pichavant
<jeanmichel@sequans.com> wrote:
> bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> I cannot change the function definition.
>
> or better (imo)
> testData(z) and make testData handle a list (8 parameters, that's a lot of
> parameters).

He can't change the function definition.

ChrisA

Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 7:05 PM, Jean-Michel Pichavant
> <jeanmichel@sequans.com> wrote:
>
>> bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>> I cannot change the function definition.
>>>
>> or better (imo)
>> testData(z) and make testData handle a list (8 parameters, that's a lot of
>> parameters).
>>
>
> He can't change the function definition.
>
> ChrisA
>
my bad

JM

Alister wrote:

[putolin]

> some people read these threads to learn general concepts & not to find
> answers to a single explicit case.

Some people (me) don't know the first thing about python and are in the
learning/exploratory phase.

On 8/9/2012 5:50 AM, Jean-Michel Pichavant wrote:
> Chris Angelico wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 7:05 PM, Jean-Michel Pichavant
>> <jeanmichel@sequans.com> wrote:
>>> bruceg113355@gmail.com wrote:
>>>> I cannot change the function definition.
>>> or better (imo)
>>> testData(z) and make testData handle a list (8 parameters, that's a
>>> lot of
>>> parameters).
>>
>> He can't change the function definition.

One can always wrap a function with an adaptor if the signature is too
awful.

--
Terry Jan Reedy