On Jan 11, 4:38 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've been reading the following example, and couldn't figure out, what > **kw mean. (It's an empty dictionary, but what's the semantics):
It's a keyword argument. It's some kind of repository for arguments that aren't recognized. If you have function like this: def func(a, *args, *kw): print a print args print kw and you call the functin like this: func('value A', 'value B', 'value C', argumentA = 'value D', argumentB = 'value D') the extra arguments would normally raise an error, but with the * and **, Python would: - assign 'value B' and 'value C' to args - assign 'argumentA':'value D' and 'argumentB':'value E' to kw so if you run the function, it will output: #### value A ('value B', 'value C') {'argumentB': 'value E', 'argumentA': 'value D'} #### this args and kw can be accessed like a tuple and dictionary respectively See '4.7.2 Keyword Arguments' and '4.7.3 Arbitrary Argument Lists' on Python Help File -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list