Introduction Unpacking in Python refers to an operation that consists of assigning an iterable of values to a tuple (or list) of variables in a single assignment statement. As a complement, the term packing can be used when we collect several values in a single variable using the iterable unpacking operator, *. Historically, Python developers have generically referred to this kind of operation as tuple unpacking. However, since this Python feature has turned out to be quite useful and popular, […]

Introduction Python’s print() function is typically used to display text either in the command-line or in the interactive interpreter, depending on how the Python program is executed. However, we can change its behavior to write text to a file instead of to the console. In this article, we’ll examine the many ways we can write to a file with the print() function. Redirecting a Python’s Script Output in the Terminal The quick and dirty way to redirect a Python script’s […]

Introduction The map(), filter() and reduce() functions bring a bit of functional programming to Python. All three of these are convenience functions that can be replaced with List Comprehensions or loops, but provide a more elegant and short-hand approach to some problems. Before continuing, we’ll go over a few things you should be familiar with before reading about the aforementioned methods: What is an anonymous function/method or lambda? An anonymous method is a method without a name, i.e. not bound […]

Introduction to any() and all() In this tutorial, we’ll be covering the any() and all() functions in Python. The any(iterable) and all(iterable) are built-in functions in Python and have been around since Python 2.5 was released. Both functions are equivalent to writing a series of or and and operators respectively between each of the elements of the passed iterable. They are both convenience functions that shorten the code by replacing boilerplate loops. Both methods short-circuit and return a value as […]