How to return multiple values from a Python function

To return multiple values from a Python function, you can pack the values into a tuple and return the tuple. Here’s an example:

def get_player_info(player_id):
    # assume we have some code that gets player info using player_id
    name = "John"
    score = 100
    level = 5
    return name, score, level

In this example, we define a function called get_player_info that takes a player_id argument and returns three pieces of information about the player: their name, score, and level. We pack these three values into a tuple using parentheses, and return the tuple.

To call this function and extract the values from the returned tuple, we can use tuple unpacking:

player_name, player_score, player_level = get_player_info(123)

In this line of code, we call get_player_info with an argument of 123, and assign the three values returned by the function to the variables player_name, player_score, and player_level using tuple unpacking.

Note that if you want to return multiple values of different types, using a dictionary or a named tuple might be a better option than a tuple.

When returning multiple values from a Python function, using a tuple or a dictionary to pack the values is a common approach. Here are some advantages and disadvantages to consider:

Advantages:

• Easier to return multiple values of different types compared to using a global variable or an object with instance variables.
• More concise and can improve the readability of the code compared to assigning multiple variables inside the function and returning a single value.
• Can make it easier to group multiple related values together and can improve the maintainability and scalability of the code.

Disadvantages:

• Potential for errors in unpacking the tuple or dictionary returned by the function when calling it.
• If the function is used often and the returned values are complex, extracting values from the tuple or dictionary repeatedly could slow down the code.
• Can make the code harder to read if the tuple/dictionary contains many values, so it’s important to balance readability and functionality.

Overall, returning multiple values using a tuple or dictionary is a useful technique in Python, and its use depends on the specific requirements of the code and personal preference.