How can I unpack tuple when other variables are needed?

Question

According to this, I can call a function that takes N arguments with a tuple containing those arguments, with f(*my_tuple).

Is there a way to combine unpacking and unpacked variables?

Something like:

def f(x,y,z):...
a = (1,2)
f(*a, 3)

Answer 1

The code you supplied (f(*a, 3)) is valid for python 3. For python 2, you can create a new tuple by adding in the extra values. Then unpack the new tuple.

For example if you had the following function f:

def f(x, y, z):
    return x*y - y*z

print(f(1,2,3))
#-4

Attempting your code results in an error in python 2:

a = (1,2)
print(f(*a,3))
#SyntaxError: only named arguments may follow *expression

So just make a new tuple:

new_a = a + (3,)
print(f(*new_a))
#-4

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Update

I should also add another option is to pass in a named argument after the * expression (as stated in the SyntaxError):

print(f(*a, z=3))
#-4