How to Return Python Tuple from Function

How to return a tuple from a Python function? In Python, a tuple is a collection of ordered, immutable objects and you can return a tuple from a function by enclosing the objects you want to return in parentheses. In this article, I will explain how to return a tuple from a function in Python with some examples.

1. Quick Examples of Returning Tuple from Function

If you are in a hurry, below are some quick examples of the python return tuple from a function.

# Quick examples of python return tuple

# Example 1: Use the simplest python return tuple
def technology():
    return ('Python', 25000)
tuples = technology()

# Example 2: Return tuple using arguments 
def technology(courses, fees):
    tempTuple = (courses, fees)
    return tempTuple
tuples = technology('Python', 25000)

# Example 3: Return tuple using arguments 
def my_function(x, y):
    # some code here
    return (x+y, x-y, x*y)
result = my_function(15, 8)

# Example 4: Returned tuple using unpack 
def my_function(x, y):
    return (x+y, x-y, x*y)
sum, diff, prod = my_function(15, 8)

# Example 5: Use generators 
# Return multiple tuples from function
def technology():
    tuples = [('Python', 25000), ('Spark', 30000), ('Pandas', 20000)]
    for courses, fees in tuples:
        yield courses, fees
for courses, fees in technology():

# Example 6: Return multiple tuples from function 
def technology(courses, fees):
    yield (courses[1], fees[0])
    yield (courses[1], fees[1])
tuple1, tuple2 = technology([1, 2], ['Python', 25000])

1. Use the Simplest Python Return Tuple

You can use a tuple as the return value from a function in Python by simply enclosing the values you want to return in parentheses – (), separated by commas. Returning a tuple from a function enables us to return multiple types of values from a function.

For example, let’s create a technology() function and returns a tuple containing the values 'Python', 25000. Call the function and assign the result to the tuples variable, and then print out the tuple to confirm that the function is returning a tuple correctly. The type of tuple is also confirmed to be a tuple using the type() function.

# Use the simplest python return tuple
def technology():
    return ('Python', 25000)

# Call function
tuples = technology()

# Print function returned values
print(tuples)
print(type(tuples))

# Output
# ('Python', 25000)
# <class 'tuple'>

2. Return Tuple Using Arguments

Similarly, let’s create another function technology() that takes two arguments courses and fees and return these values as a tuple form the function.

# Return tuple using arguments 
def technology(courses, fees):
    tempTuple = (courses, fees)
    return tempTuple

tuples = technology('Python', 25000)
print(tuples)
print(type(tuples))

# Output
# ('Python', 25000)
# <class 'tuple'>

You can also return a tuple from a function that takes expression. For example, the my_function(x, y) takes two arguments x and y performs some computation on them and returns a tuple containing the sum, difference, and product of x and y. The result variable is assigned to the returned tuple.

# Return tuple using arguments 
def my_function(x, y):
    # some code here
    return (x+y, x-y, x*y)

result = my_function(15, 8)
print(result)

# Output
# (23, 7, 120)

You can also unpack the tuple into multiple variables. For example, the my_function(x, y) returns a tuple containing the sum, difference, and product of x and y, and the returned tuple is unpacked into three separate variables sum, diff, and prod.

# Returned tuple using unpack 
def my_function(x, y):
    return (x+y, x-y, x*y)

sum, diff, prod = my_function(15, 8)
print(sum)
print(diff)
print(prod)

# Output
# 23
# 7
# 120

3. Return Multiple Tuples from Function

You can use generators to return multiple tuples from a function.

# Use generators 
# Return multiple tuples from function
def technology():
    tuples = [('Python', 25000), ('Spark', 30000), ('Pandas', 20000)]
    for courses, fees in tuples:
        yield courses, fees

# Call the function and unpack the tuples
for courses, fees in technology():
    print(courses, fees)

# Output
# Python 25000
# Spark 30000
# Pandas 20000

Here, the technology() function creates a list tuples containing courses and fees. It then uses a for loop to iterate over the list and yield each tuple as it goes. When the function is called, it returns a generator object that can be used to iterate over the tuples. In this case, you are using a for loop to loop over the generator.

Follow the other example of returning multiple tuples from the function.

# Return multiple tuples from function 
def technology(courses, fees):
    yield (courses[1], fees[0])
    yield (courses[1], fees[1])

tuple1, tuple2 = technology([1, 2], ['Python', 25000])
print(tuple1)
print(tuple2)

# Output
# (1, 'Python')
# (2, 25000)

Conclusion

In this article, I have explained how to return a python tuple from functions and also learned to return multiple tuples. Returning tuples from a function is a great feature where it allows to return multiple values of different types from a function

Happy Learning !!

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