Is it possible to assign two different returned values from a python function to two separate variables?

Question

I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to assign two different returned values from a python function to two separate variables.

Here's the function, which returns a name and city value.

def authenticate():

name = raw_input("What is your name?    ")

city = raw_input("What city do you live in?    ")


if name != "Jerry Seinfeld" or city != "New York":
    print """

    Access denied

    """

else:
    print """


    Authenticated

    """
    return name and city

Now, I want to assign the returned values to two variables, a and b.

I only know how to assign one value, like this.

a = authenticate()

(this actually assigns the city value to a, which I'm guessing is because "return name" comes before "return city" in the code)

Is what I'm trying to do possible?

Duplicate of [How do you return multiple values in Python?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/354883/how-do-you-return-multiple-values-in-python) — GreenMatt, May 13 '11 at 17:22
Not quite a duplicate. This asks "how, and how to catch?", that asks "which?". — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, May 13 '11 at 17:24

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '11 at 17:18

8

Python supports tuple unpacking.

def foo():
  return 'bar', 42

a, b = foo()

It even works with other sequences.

a, b = [c, d]

Python 3.x extends the syntax.

a, b, *c = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

answered May 13 '11 at 17:18

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '11 at 17:20

2

You should change return name and city(because "and"s use is logical expressions) to return (name, city) for returning a tuple. Now you can assign values with tuple unpacking:

name,city = authenticate()

answered May 13 '11 at 17:20

utdemir

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 05 '20 at 13:30

0

if a function return more values you can use

a,b = zip(*function_calling())

answered Mar 05 '20 at 13:30

Shahir Ansari

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Is it possible to assign two different returned values from a python function to two separate variables?

3 Answers3