Python moving a regular function with several lines to a lambda

Question

Hi I'm trying to learn python and Lambdas and anonymous functions but I'm having a bit problem with the syntax. What i want to do is convert this

def printer():
    print("hello")
    print("world")

to a lambda but i can't seem to get the syntax correctly.

lambda can only be one line. This is a feature that a lot of people have been asking for for a long time, but I doubt it would be added soon, since that would undermine the reason lambda was added in the first place — A random coder
– A random coder, Commented Apr 15, 2021 at 14:33
@Arandomcoder To be more exact, a lambda can only be a single expression, but it can span multiple lines. Although it is recommended that lambda is only used for rather small, non-complex expressions. — inof
– inof, Commented Apr 15, 2021 at 14:39
The reason you are struggling is that it shouldn't be done in the first place... This is NOT what lambdas are for... — Tomerikoo
– Tomerikoo, Commented Apr 24, 2021 at 11:43

inof · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-15 14:43:45Z

2

Lambdas can only contain a single expression, not a sequence of statements. They are intended for small functions that calculate a value. If your code goes beyonf that, it’s better to write a regular function, not a lambda.

Having said that, in your particular case you can do something like this:

printer = lambda: print("hello\nworld")

or:

printer = lambda: (
    print("hello"),
    print("world")
)

That would work, but it really doesn’t make much sense. The first lambda always returns None, the second returns a tuple of None (you would simply ignore these in your code when calling the lambda).

edited Apr 15, 2021 at 14:43

answered Apr 15, 2021 at 14:37

inof

4853 silver badges7 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Serge · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-24 19:08:25Z

1

No you cannot, and should not.

Yet if you really need you can some hack like turning several lines into an equivalent single expression

f = lambda x: print("Hello") or print("world")

edited Apr 24, 2021 at 19:08

answered Apr 15, 2021 at 14:40

Serge

3,8453 gold badges20 silver badges39 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python moving a regular function with several lines to a lambda

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related