Variable number of arguments in function

Question

Is it possible to run a function like this:

def call(a,*alphabets,*numbers):
    print(a)
    print(alphabets)
    print(numbers)

I'm getting the following error:

  File "<ipython-input-331-ddaef8a7e66f>", line 1
    def call(a,*alphabets,*numbers):
                          ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Can somebody tell me if there's an alternative way to do this?

Answer 1

Quite simply: require the caller to pass two lists (or tuples or whatever):

def call(a,alphabets=None,numbers=None):
    if alphabets is None:
        alphabets = []
    if numbers is None:
        numbers = []
    print(a)
    print(alphabets)
    print(numbers)


call("?")
call("?", ["a", "b", "c"])
call("?", ["a", "b", "c"], (1, 2, 3))
call("?"), None, (1, 2, 3))
# etc