Advanced Python: The lambda

Ever had to write this…

def func(n):
  # only allow `l` no of characters in the `n` string
  return n[:l+1]

parsed_n_s = map(seq, func)

When you could have done this…

# only allow `l` no of characters in the `n` string
parsed_n_s = map(seq, lambda n: n[:l+1]) # is this more readable?

Read along to learn WTF is this lambda anyway.

2 kinds of Python functions

Python supports two kinds of functions, no, I am not talking about a standalone function and a method of a class. I meant named and anonymous functions. If you have been doing it the first way, you know what named functions are. For the record,

def func(param):
  # body
  pass

And the anonymous goes like

lambda param: pass #body

Anonymous means you don’t get to call it by a name. It’s just temporary, a quickie. But you can go out of your way and can do this though.

func = lambda param: pass # body

This style might help you if the function body is so simple and writing the whole def ... shenanigan is a waste of time, space, and effort.

Quickie, not Shorty

Even though lambda seems simple, it is so powerful enough to execute somewhat complex logic. Not flexible as the named function though 🤷‍♂️. How complex you asked?

This 👇

extract from another post

Can become, this 👇

another extract from the same post

I wouldn’t recommend this kind of one-liner in a prolonged codebase, but for quick scripts it does the job pretty well, saving some typing time. For context, please read my post on Python Comprehension.

Advanced Python: Comprehensions

Powerful one-liners for generators in python3

medium.com

lambda functions always return something; hence lambda never gets void as its return type, and the last execution will implicitly return the result.

Applications

Before applying the lambda let’s just summarize: -

• defines an anonymous function,

• implicitly (no need for return lexeme) returns the result of the last logic,

• cannot span to multiple lines (if I am wrong, let me know in the comments or dm me).

I guess that’s it. Without ado let’s get started

1. along with map

I extensively use lambda in the map if the logic is simple or can be included in one line. Say, you have a list of strings of varying length, but you need to cut everything down to 120 words (maybe you are doing a Twitter clone with tkinder and python, I don't know 🤷‍♂️)

tweets = [...] # the initial tweets
tweets = map(lambda t: t[:121], tweets)

If it weren’t for *lambda*s, then that one-liner would be…

tweets = [...] # the initial tweets
parsed_tweets = []
for t in tweets:
  parsed_tweets.append(t[:121])
# now parsed_tweets is, parsed 😁

Which one do you prefer, I prefer the first one as it is more precise and requires less mental effort to comprehend.

2. along with filter

Just like map, lambda is so useful when using filter. E.g., If you are to generate odd number series from 1 to n, in front of your crush, then with lambda you could just,

gen_odd = lambda n: [i for i in filter(lambda i: i%2, range(1,n+1)]

without lambda, you would be mopping the floor like…

def gen_odd(n):
  result = []
  for i in range(1,n+1):
    if i % 2 != 0:
      result.append(i)
  return result

It is assumed that your crush is either a noob in python or a JavaScript developer.

Of course, You could have done this,

result = [i for i in range(1, n+1, 2)]

But where’s fun in that 😜, when she’s watching. Be careful not to mess up anything or you will be this meme.

from imgflip.com

3. saving some characters to type

Instead of spanning 2 lines of code to square a number or raise a number to power of something else, you can do it in one line with few whitespaces (assuming you can’t use pow std utility)

def pow_1(x,n):
  return x ** n

pow_2 = lambda x,n: x ** n

You can see that pow_2 is tidy and just to the point without any clutter or boilerplate code.

4. in re.sub()

If you need to substitute some group of characters adhering to pattern iterating over more than 1 specimen, then regex has you covered. I especially used this to create my Template Engine.

How to build a simple template engine with Python and regex

E.g.,

import re
specimen = "hello world"
pattern = r'\w+'
final_str = re.sub(pattern, 'WORLD', specimen)

Wait, I just want to replace the last part, not just world to WORLD but any last word should be Upper! Well, regex’s group and lambda are to the rescue…

import re
pattern = r'(\w+)\s(\w+)'
final_str = re.sub(pattern, lambda m: m.group(1) + ' ,' + m.group(2).upper(), specimen)

Of course, many ways to do this, some of which might be better, but I couldn’t think of any as of writing this. If you think there are other ways with or without lambda but with lesser time complexity, please point them out in the comments, If not give this post a clap, wouldn’t cost you any 😍 and follow me 😘.

Epilogue

Alright, that’s all I got for now, if I ever come across anything new about lambda I will put it in the comments or just update the post itself, so make sure you bookmark it or something. If you ever come across something awesome as well, please comment. Wouldn’t hurt or cost you to share the knowledge 🎊

If you are intrigued and interested, go ahead and follow me on Medium or on Twitter.

Till I see you next time, it’s me the BE, signing off 👋.