Question

Is it possible to have overloaded functions in Python?

In C# I would do something like

void myfunction (int first, string second)
{
    # Some code
}

void myfunction (int first, string second, float third)
{
    # Some different code
}

And then when I call the function it would differentiate between the two based on the number of arguments. Is it possible to do something similar in Python?

Answer 1

EDIT For the new single dispatch generic functions in Python 3.4, see http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0443/

You generally don’t need to overload functions in Python. Python is dynamically typed, and supports optional arguments to functions.

def myfunction(first, second, third = None):
    if third is None:
        #just use first and second
    else:
        #use all three

myfunction(1, 2) # third will be None, so enter the 'if' clause
myfunction(3, 4, 5) # third isn't None, it's 5, so enter the 'else' clause