Question

I have a function with two optional parameters:

def func(a=0, b=10):
    return a+b

Somewhere else in my code I am doing some conditional argument passing like:

if a and b:
   return func(a, b)
elif a:
   return func(a)
elif b:
   return func(b=b)
else:
   return func()

Is there anyway to simplify code in this pattern?

EDIT:

Let’s assume that I’m not allowed to implement default parameter logic inside func.

I may have several functions like func: func1, func2 and func3 would all contain the

a = a or 0
b = b or 10

statements.

But I’m invoking these series of functions to eliminate duplication. (using a decorator)

Answer 1

If you don’t want to change anything in func then the sensible option would be passing a dict of arguments to the function:

>>> def func(a=0,b=10):
...  return a+b
...
>>> args = {'a':15,'b':15}
>>> func(**args)
30
>>> args={'a':15}
>>> func(**args)
25
>>> args={'b':6}
>>> func(**args)
6
>>> args = {}
>>> func(**args)
10

or just:

>>>func(**{'a':7})
17