Question

What does a single * without identifier mean in the Python function arguments?
Here is an example that works with Python3.2:

class Shape:
    def __init__(self, *, shapename, **kwds):
        self.shapename = shapename
        super().__init__(**kwds)

For me the star after the self is strange.

I have found it here (from row 46):
http://code.activestate.com/recipes/577720-how-to-use-super-effectively/

UPDATE: Later also / was added to the argument list of Python functions. You might want to understand them in pair.

Answer 1

The lone * indicates that all following arguments are keyword-only arguments, that is, they can only be provided using their name, not as positional argument.

See PEP 3102 for further details.