You and I can certainly confirm and agree that Python code is one of the shortest, best languages and has an easy to learn syntax with a wide range of use-cases!
Do you know that there are tricks and tips that could help you increase your code efficiency and still be readable and understandable?
Today I'll share my top 10 Python tricks & tips that most Pythonistas do not tell you about.
โญImage Credit: Pythonista Cafe
Please note that some may not be beginner-friendly and you may take a while to grasp them and start using them in your projects.
Let's roll ๐๐
๐น The Walrus(:=) Operator
Each new version of Python adds new features to the language. For Python 3.8, the biggest change was the addition of assignment expressions.
Specifically, the :=operator gives you a new syntax for assigning variables in the middle of expressions.
Consider the code below
my_blog = "blog.octachart.com"
blog_len = len(my_blog)
if blog_len > 10:
print(True)
But with this operator, we can create variables amidst code.
my_blog = "blog.octachart.com"
if (blog_len := len(my_blog) > 10):
print(True)
๐น The dir() function
dir() is a powerful inbuilt function in Python3, which returns list of the attributes and methods of any object.
import pip
print(dir(pip))
Running the above outputs;
๐น The * operator
The asterisk operator (*) is used to unpack all the values of an iterable. Consider the examples below
num_1 = [1,2,3,4,5]
print(*num_1)
You can easily merge two lists ;
num_2 = [6,7,8,9,10]
print([*num_1, *num_2])
In the above examples, we could have used a bunch of for loop statements to achieve the same thing ;
new = []
for n1 in num_1:
new.append(n1)
for n2 in num_2:
new.append(n2)
print(new)
โ *args
The special syntax *args in function definitions in python is used to pass a variable number of arguments to a function. It is used to pass a non-key worded, variable-length argument list.
Example
def names(*args):
return args
print(names("Ronnie", "Atuhaire", "John"))
* args is a tuple because it receives a tuple containing the positional arguments beyond the formal parameter list.
โ **kwargs
The special syntax **kwargs in function definitions in python is used to pass a keyworded, variable-length argument list.
def names_(**kwargs):
return kwargs
print(names_(first = "Ronnie", last = "Atuhaire"))
๐น The breakpoint()
The Python breakpoint() built-in function is a tool that allows developers to set points in code at which a debugger is called.
By default, this function results in an instantiation of Python's native debugger class.
Example;
x = 10
y = 'Hi'
z = 'Hello'
print(y)
breakpoint()
print(z)
Python 3.7 introduced breakpoint() method that allows us to write loosely coupled debugging code.
The above code created a session of pdb.set_trace() and so it is a pretty easy way of calling the pdb debugger.
If we pressed for instance c for continue , the next execution would follow.
Read more about the pdb module
๐น The zip() function
The zip() function is defined as zip(*iterables) . The function takes in iterables as arguments and returns an iterator.
This iterator generates a series of tuples containing elements from each iterable.
You can use the zip() function to combine several lists of the same length and print out the result.
Example;
string_ = ["one", "two", "three"]
number_ = [1,2,3]
for string, number in zip(string_ , number_):
print(string, "-->" ,number)
You can also use it alongside the * operator to achieve the same thing above.
mat = [[1, 2, 3], [1000, 2000, 3000]]
print([n for n in zip(*mat)])
Note: I am using python comprehensions in the above example which is a topic and a trick that I won't cover in this article, so please refer to this article of mine about comprehensions.
๐น The _ Operator
It's neither an operator nor a function. It's a variable that automatically gets assigned the result of each expression executed by the shell.
Example;
In the above case, underscore (_) when typed into the interpreter will return the value of the last executed statement.
It can also be used in a loop as a throwaway to indicate that the variable is not going to be used.
for _, idx in enumerate(range(2,10)):
print(idx)
๐น Multiple user inputs
Python has an input() function that lets you ask a user for some text input. You call this function to tell the program to stop and wait for the user to key in.
For example, if we wanted to have multiple user inputs at the same time storing them in different variables, we would achieve that like this;
first_name = input("Enter your first name [+]: ")
last_name = input("Enter your last name [+]: ")
print(f"So you are {first_name} {last_name} all along!")
What if I told you that you can actually do this;
first_name_ , last_name_ = input("Enter your full name [+]: ").split()
print(f"So you are {first_name_} {last_name_} all along!")
Output >>
๐น Shut down a computer
The OS module in Python provides functions for interacting with the operating system. OS comes under Python's standard utility modules.
With it, you can shutdown, restart or logoff with python commands instead of GUI:
import os
os.system('shutdown -s')
The os.system(command) executes the command (a string) in a subshell.
Read more about os [module](https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html) to see the available options
๐น Python Pretty Printer
The pprint module provides a capability to pretty-print arbitrary Python data structures in a form that can be used as input to the interpreter.
Let us consider this code I used in Geolocating IPs in the article I wrote sometime back:
import requests
import json
# IP address to test
ip_address = '200.229.2.90'
# Our Endpoint (API) URL
request_url = f"https://geolocation-db.com/jsonp/{ip_address}"
# Send request and decode the result
response = requests.get(request_url)
result = response.content.decode()
# Clean the returned string so it just contains the JSON String
result = result.split("(")[1].strip(")")
# Into dict
result = result.split("(")[1].strip(")")
print(result)
Running the above returns;
What if we used Python Pretty Printer
import requests
import json
import pprint
# IP address to test
ip_address = '200.229.2.90'
# Our Endpoint (API) URL
request_url = f"https://geolocation-db.com/jsonp/{ip_address}"
# Send request and decode the result
response = requests.get(request_url)
result = response.content.decode()
# Clean the returned string so it just contains the JSON String
result = result.split("(")[1].strip(")")
# Convert this data into dictionary
result = json.loads(result)
pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=1)
pp.pprint(result)
The output >>
๐น PIP useful commands
PIP is a recursive acronym that can stand for either "Pip Installs Packages" or "Pip Installs Python". Alternatively, pip stands for "preferred installer program"
PIP is a package manager for Python packages, or modules if you like and If you have Python version 3.4 or later, PIP is included by default.
โ pip_search
Looking for a package, pip_search is there to help you out without leaving the terminal.
pip_search allows you to search PyPI for any package using the pip_search <package> command.
The original pip search deprecated and the API was shut down due to being overwhelmed but luckily there is always a way;
First pip install pip-search
pip_search pygame
The output >>>
โ pip show
Itโs very common to get details about a package that is currently installed. For any package, this command returns details like name, version, summary, dependent packages and much more.
pip show django
Output >>
โ pip check
pip-check gives you a quick overview of all installed packages and their update status.
โ pip --no-cache-dir
There is also a concept called caching. pip provides a cache that functions similarly to that of a web browser and it is on by default. We can disable the cache and always access the PyPI using the โno-cache-dir option as:
pip install --no-cache-dir flask
๐น Keywords
We cannot use a keyword as a variable name, function name or any other identifier. They are used to define the syntax and structure of the Python language. In Python, keywords are case sensitive.
from keyword import kwlist
def all_keywords():
print(kwlist, end="\n\n")
return f"And they are {len(kwlist)} keywords in Python 3.10.0"
print(all_keywords())
The Output >>>
From the output, we can say that there are currently 35 keywords in Python 3.10.0
Find all the code here
๐ธ Summary
Did you count them ๐? Well, there is an extra bonus tip (Keywords) from me to you!
Obviously, there are cooler tricks that I may have not yet discovered but I will keep digging.
In case you want to learn more about Python comprehensions and have a basic understanding of how they work. Read my article here.
The Zen of Python --> I have a full article coming out any time about this, so you may want to stay connected.
๐ธ Conclusion
Once again, hope you learned something today from my little closet.
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