Defining Functions in Python

Defining Functions

Functions must be defined, to create and use certain functionality. There are many built-in functions that comes with the language python (for instance, the print() function), but you can also define your own function. When defining functions there are multiple things that need to be noted;

Function blocks begin with the keyword “def ” followed by function name and parenthesis ().

Syntax for User defined function

def <function_name ([parameter1, parameter2…] )> :

<Block of Statements>

return <expression / None>

Block:

A block is one or more lines of code, grouped together so that they are treated as one big sequence of statements while execution. In Python, statements in a block are written with indentation. Usually, a block begins when a line is indented (by four spaces) and all the statements of the block should be at same indent level.

·        Any input parameters or arguments should be placed within these parentheses when you define a function.

·        The code block always comes after a colon (:) and is indented.

·        The statement “return [expression]” exits a function, optionally passing back an expression to the caller. A “return” with no arguments is the same as return None.

Note

Python keywords should not be used as function name.

Note

In the above Syntax, the Text which is given in square bracket [] is optional.

Nested Block:

A block within a block is called nested block. When the first block statement is indented by a single tab space, the second block of statement is indented by double tab spaces.

Here is an example of defining a function;

Do_Something( ):

value =1 #Assignment Statement

return value #Return Statement

Now let’s check out functions in action so you can visually see how they work within a program. Here is an example for a simple function to display the given string.

Example:

def hello():

print (“hello - Python”)

return

Advantages of User-defined Functions

1. Functions help us to divide a program into modules. This makes the code easier to manage.

2. It implements code reuse. Every time you need to execute a sequence of statements, all you need to do is to call the function.

3. Functions, allows us to change functionality easily, and different programmers can work on different functions.