Unpacking operators * and **
============================

Unpacking tuples or lists
-------------------------

.. interactive_code_block:: 
   :caption: A list cannot be used directly

   flies_like = ['an arrow', 'a banana']
   print('Time flies like {}, fruit flies like {}!'.format(flies_like))

.. interactive_code_block:: 
   :caption: One way is to 'unpack' the items of the list

   flies_like = ['an arrow', 'a banana']
   print('Time flies like {}, fruit flies like {}!'.format(flies_like[0], flies_like[1]))

.. interactive_code_block:: 
   :caption: A shorter way of unpacking a list is to precede its name with an '*'

   flies_like = ['an arrow', 'a banana']
   print('Time flies like {1}, fruit flies like {0}!'.format(*flies_like))


Unpacking dictionaries
----------------------

.. interactive_code_block:: 
   :caption: A dict can unpacked by preceding its name with '**'

   flies_like = {'time': 'an arrow', 'fruit': 'a banana'}
   print('Time flies like {time}, fruit flies like {fruit}!'.format(**flies_like))


..
   https://note.nkmk.me/en/python-tuple-list-unpack/