Variable unpacking#

Variable unpacking is a special syntax that allows to assign elements of an iterable to variables.

Note

This functionality is often referred to as tuple unpacking but unpacking works on any iterable object, not only with tuples

Example of variable unpacking:

In [1]: interface = ['FastEthernet0/1', '10.1.1.1', 'up', 'up']

In [2]: intf, ip, status, protocol = interface

In [3]: intf
Out[3]: 'FastEthernet0/1'

In [4]: ip
Out[4]: '10.1.1.1'

This option is much more convenient than the use of indexes:

In [5]: intf, ip, status, protocol = interface[0], interface[1], interface[2], interface[3]

When you unpack variables, each item in list falls into the corresponding variable. It is important to take into account that there should be exactly as many variables on the left as there are elements in the list.

If amount of variables are less or more, there will be an exception:

In [6]: intf, ip, status = interface
------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-11-a304c4372b1a> in <module>()
----> 1 intf, ip, status = interface

ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

In [7]: intf, ip, status, protocol, other = interface
------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-12-ac93e78b978c> in <module>()
----> 1 intf, ip, status, protocol, other = interface

ValueError: not enough values to unpack (expected 5, got 4)

Replacement of unnecessary elements `_`#

Often only some of elements of an iterable are needed. Unpacking syntax requires that exactly as many variables as elements in the object being iterated be specified.

If, for example, only VLAN, MAC and interface should be obtained from line, you still need to specify a variable for “DYNAMIC”:

In [8]: line = '100    01bb.c580.7000    DYNAMIC     Gi0/1'

In [9]: vlan, mac, item_type, intf = line.split()

In [10]: vlan
Out[10]: '100'

In [11]: intf
Out[11]: 'Gi0/1'

If record type is no longer needed, you can replace item_type variable with underline character:

In [12]: vlan, mac, _, intf = line.split()

This clearly indicates that this element is not needed.

Underline character can be used more than once:

In [13]: dhcp = '00:09:BB:3D:D6:58   10.1.10.2        86250       dhcp-snooping   10    FastEthernet0/1'

In [14]: mac, ip, _, _, vlan, intf = dhcp.split()

In [15]: mac
Out[15]: '00:09:BB:3D:D6:58'

In [16]: vlan
Out[16]: '10'

Use `*`#

Variable unpacking supports a special syntax that allows unpacking of several elements into one. If you put * in front of variable name, all elements except those that are explicitly assigned will be written into it.

For example, you can get the first element in first variable and the rest in rest:

In [18]: vlans = [10, 11, 13, 30]

In [19]: first, *rest = vlans

In [20]: first
Out[20]: 10

In [21]: rest
Out[21]: [11, 13, 30]

Variable with an asterisk will always contain a list:

In [22]: vlans = (10, 11, 13, 30)

In [22]: first, *rest = vlans

In [23]: first
Out[23]: 10

In [24]: rest
Out[24]: [11, 13, 30]

If there is only one item, unpacking will still work:

In [25]: first, *rest = vlans

In [26]: first
Out[26]: 55

In [27]: rest
Out[27]: []

There can be only one variable with an asterisk in the unpacking expression.

In [28]: vlans = (10, 11, 13, 30)

In [29]: first, *rest, *others = vlans
  File "<ipython-input-37-dedf7a08933a>", line 1
    first, *rest, *others = vlans
                                 ^
SyntaxError: two starred expressions in assignment

This variable may not only be at the end of expression:

In [30]: vlans = (10, 11, 13, 30)

In [31]: *rest, last = vlans

In [32]: rest
Out[32]: [10, 11, 13]

In [33]: last
Out[33]: 30

Thus, the first, second and last element can be specified:

In [34]: cdp = 'SW1     Eth 0/0    140   S I   WS-C3750-  Eth 0/1'

In [35]: name, l_intf, *other, r_intf = cdp.split()

In [36]: name
Out[36]: 'SW1'

In [37]: l_intf
Out[37]: 'Eth'

In [38]: r_intf
Out[38]: '0/1'

Unpacking examples#

Unpacking of iterable objects#

These examples show that you can unpack not only lists, tuples and strings but also any other iterable objects.

Unpacking the range:

In [39]: first, *rest = range(1, 6)

In [40]: first
Out[40]: 1

In [41]: rest
Out[41]: [2, 3, 4, 5]

Unpacking zip:

In [42]: a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

In [43]: b = [100, 200, 300, 400, 500]

In [44]: zip(a, b)
Out[44]: <zip at 0xb4df4fac>

In [45]: list(zip(a, b))
Out[45]: [(1, 100), (2, 200), (3, 300), (4, 400), (5, 500)]

In [46]: first, *rest, last = zip(a, b)

In [47]: first
Out[47]: (1, 100)

In [48]: rest
Out[48]: [(2, 200), (3, 300), (4, 400)]

In [49]: last
Out[49]: (5, 500)

Example of unpacking in for loop#

Example of a loop that runs through the keys:

In [50]: access_template = ['switchport mode access',
    ...:                    'switchport access vlan',
    ...:                    'spanning-tree portfast',
    ...:                    'spanning-tree bpduguard enable']
    ...:

In [51]: access = {'0/12':10,
    ...:           '0/14':11,
    ...:           '0/16':17}
    ...:

In [52]: for intf in access:
    ...:     print('interface FastEthernet' + intf)
    ...:     for command in access_template:
    ...:         if command.endswith('access vlan'):
    ...:             print(' {} {}'.format(command, access[intf]))
    ...:         else:
    ...:             print(' {}'.format(command))
    ...:
interface FastEthernet0/12
 switchport mode access
 switchport access vlan 10
 spanning-tree portfast
 spanning-tree bpduguard enable
interface FastEthernet0/14
 switchport mode access
 switchport access vlan 11
 spanning-tree portfast
 spanning-tree bpduguard enable
interface FastEthernet0/16
 switchport mode access
 switchport access vlan 17
 spanning-tree portfast
 spanning-tree bpduguard enable

Instead, you can run through key-value pairs and immediately unpack them into different variables:

In [53]: for intf, vlan in access.items():
    ...:     print('interface FastEthernet' + intf)
    ...:     for command in access_template:
    ...:         if command.endswith('access vlan'):
    ...:             print(' {} {}'.format(command, vlan))
    ...:         else:
    ...:             print(' {}'.format(command))
    ...:

Example of unpacking list items in the loop:

In [54]: table
Out[54]:
[['100', 'a1b2.ac10.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/1'],
 ['200', 'a0d4.cb20.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/2'],
 ['300', 'acb4.cd30.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/3'],
 ['100', 'a2bb.ec40.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/4'],
 ['500', 'aa4b.c550.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/5'],
 ['200', 'a1bb.1c60.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/6'],
 ['300', 'aa0b.cc70.7000', 'DYNAMIC', 'Gi0/7']]


In [55]: for line in table:
    ...:     vlan, mac, _, intf = line
    ...:     print(vlan, mac, intf)
    ...:
100 a1b2.ac10.7000 Gi0/1
200 a0d4.cb20.7000 Gi0/2
300 acb4.cd30.7000 Gi0/3
100 a2bb.ec40.7000 Gi0/4
500 aa4b.c550.7000 Gi0/5
200 a1bb.1c60.7000 Gi0/6
300 aa0b.cc70.7000 Gi0/7

But it’s better to do this:

In [56]: for vlan, mac, _, intf in table:
    ...:     print(vlan, mac, intf)
    ...:
a1b2.ac10.7000 Gi0/1
a0d4.cb20.7000 Gi0/2
acb4.cd30.7000 Gi0/3
a2bb.ec40.7000 Gi0/4
aa4b.c550.7000 Gi0/5
a1bb.1c60.7000 Gi0/6
aa0b.cc70.7000 Gi0/7

Variable unpacking#

Replacement of unnecessary elements _#

Use *#

Unpacking examples#

Unpacking of iterable objects#

Example of unpacking in for loop#

Replacement of unnecessary elements `_`#

Use `*`#