Function with fewer arguments and optional arguments

Question

I often write code that looks like this and am looking for a better suggestion. Basically, I usually create some general function `myfuc_general` that handles all the cases I need with parameters, usually with optional parameters. However, often I usually run 2 (possibly more) specific functions. Everything is the same except one of the arguments is different, in this case `a`. I run them so often that I actually prefer to just have two additional functions so I don't have to remember what the optional parameter needs to be. So for `myfunct_specific1`, I am running `a=10` and for `myfunct_specific2`, `a=20`. Is there something better to do than this? This seems pretty sloppy and it has the disadvantage in the event that I need to change the `myfuct_general` call, then I have to change all the other functions. ``` def myfunc_general(constant, a=1,b=2): return constant+a+b def myfunct_specific1(constant,b=2): a=10 return myfunc_general(constant,a,b=2) def myfunct_specific2(constant,b=2)…

Accepted Answer

You can use `functools.partial` to make this a lot easier:

```
from functools import partial

def myfunc_general(constant, a=1, b=2):
    return constant+a+b

myfunct_specific1 = partial(myfunc_general, a=10)
myfunct_specific2 = partial(myfunc_general, a=20)
```

Below is a demonstration:

```
>>> from functools import partial
>>>
>>> def myfunc_general(constant, a=1, b=2):
...     return constant+a+b
...
>>> myfunct_specific1 = partial(myfunc_general, a=10)
>>> myfunct_specific2 = partial(myfunc_general, a=20)
>>>
>>> print myfunct_specific1(3)
15
>>> print myfunct_specific2(3)
25
>>>
```

Function with fewer arguments and optional arguments

Solution

Problem