Python Essential Reference, Second Edition

Functions

You use the def statement to create a function, as shown in the following example:

def remainder(a,b): 
        q = a/b 
        r = a - q*b 
        return r 

To invoke a function, simply use the name of the function followed by its arguments enclosed in parentheses, such as result = remainder(37,15). You can use a tuple to return multiple values from a function, as in the following example:

def divide(a,b): 
        q = a/b        # If a and b are integers, q is an integer 
        r = a - q*b 
        return (q,r) 

When returning multiple values in a tuple, it’s often useful to invoke the function as follows:

quotient, remainder = divide(1456,33) 

To assign a default value to a parameter, use assignment:

def connect(hostname,port,timeout=300): 
      # Function body 

When default values are ...