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Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/faq')
-rw-r--r-- | Doc/faq/programming.rst | 21 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/faq/programming.rst b/Doc/faq/programming.rst index d33e25b..2d5d2b1 100644 --- a/Doc/faq/programming.rst +++ b/Doc/faq/programming.rst @@ -313,6 +313,27 @@ calling another function by using ``*`` and ``**``:: g(x, *args, **kwargs) +.. _faq-argument-vs-parameter: + +What is the difference between arguments and parameters? +-------------------------------------------------------- + +:term:`Parameters <parameter>` are defined by the names that appear in a +function definition, whereas :term:`arguments <argument>` are the values +actually passed to a function when calling it. Parameters define what types of +arguments a function can accept. For example, given the function definition:: + + def func(foo, bar=None, **kwargs): + pass + +*foo*, *bar* and *kwargs* are parameters of ``func``. However, when calling +``func``, for example:: + + func(42, bar=314, extra=somevar) + +the values ``42``, ``314``, and ``somevar`` are arguments. + + How do I write a function with output parameters (call by reference)? --------------------------------------------------------------------- |