FAQ: Learn Python - Lists and Functions - Passing a range into a function

Frequently Asked Questions Python FAQ
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This community-built FAQ covers the “Passing a range into a function” exercise in Codecademy’s lessons on Python.

FAQs for the Codecademy Python exercise Passing a range into a function:

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I am really confused on the keyword argument section fo python functions can someone help me

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I was doing a basic mistake but I rectified it soon after I clicked the solution button. It gave me the following code:

def my_function(x):
  for i in range(0, len(x)):
    x[i] = x[i]
  return x

print my_function(range(3))

In 3rd line, it is given : x[i] = x[i], but it doesn’t quite make sense. When I tried running the same code in Python 3 (with some syntax correction), it showed the following error:

def my_function(x):
  for i in range(0, len(x)):
    x[i] = x[i]
  return x

print (my_function(range(3))

TypeError: 'range' object does not support item assignment

Shouldn’t it be “x[i] = i” ?

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In Python 2, a range is returned as a list. Lists support item assignment.

In Python 3, a range is returned as an iterable, but is not a list, and so doesn’t support item assignment (there are no items).

The returned range object is actually just a set of constraints that are followed to yield a next value in the range.

4 Likes
6

@mtf , thanks for clearing my doubt.

1 Like
7

Thanks for the thread and thanks @mtf for the explanation. I was doing the same exercise of Python 2 but using an IDE that runs Python 3 on my own computer. I had the same error and could not figure out why until I checked here.

For my own test code, I used 2 ways to compare:

def my_function(x):
    for i in range(0, len(x)):
        x[i] = x[i]
    return x

list_1 = [0, 1, 2]
print("Using List as x")
print(my_function(list_1))

list_2 = range(3)
print("Using Range as x")
print(my_function(list_2))

I could see that list_1 work but not the list_2 i.e. range() does not behave like a list. mtf’s explanation makes perfect sense why that is.

1 Like