Question

How can I return a value from a function to a variable ? My function contains print statements and I need to return more than one value to more than 1 variable but I don't want the print statement to be "printed" everytime I return the value. Is that possible ?

Answer 1

for example :
x = 4
y = 7
def switch (z,w):
***this will switch z to w and vice verca***
c= z
z=w
w=c
print 'Now x =', w, 'and y = ' , z
return w
x = switch(x,y)

This is an example made on the fly so there might be syntax errors but that's basically what I wanna do. How am I supposed to do so I can return also a value to the variable y WITHOUT printing 'Now x =', w, 'and y = ' , z a second time

thanks in advance

Answer 2

>>> def return2( x, y ):
... return( y, x )
...
>>> x = 2
>>> y = 3
>>> z,k = return2( x,y )
>>> z
3
>>> k
2

Answer 3

oh I got it, I return a tuple then I can work on that ? I don't quiet get what you wrote tho.

Answer 4

you can use pointers to return multiplay values to your main program if you have study them already

Answer 5

a=f(x,y)

Answer 6

Functions are called in most languages by the name of the function and the arguments that you're passing into the function in parentheses. The parens have nothing to do with a tuple.


Python is unusual allowing more than one return value. In the snippet that I posted, z and k are individual variables. If they were a tuple, I would have had to refer to them as an indexed value.

In most languages, you'd have to pass a references to variables in the calling scope that the function could then set, and not "technically" return anything.