1. Introduction

In this blog post, we will explore how to write a Python program that demonstrates the use of variable-length arguments. Variable-length arguments allow a function to accept any number of arguments, providing flexibility and convenience in function calls. This is particularly useful when the number of inputs is not known in advance.

2. Program Steps

1. Define a function that uses *args to accept variable-length arguments.

2. Inside the function, iterate over args to perform an operation (e.g., summing the values).

3. Print or return the result of the operation.

3. Code Program


def sum_numbers(*args):
    # Step 2: Initialize sum
    total_sum = 0

    # Iterate over the variable-length arguments and calculate the sum
    for number in args:
        total_sum += number

    # Step 3: Return the total sum
    return total_sum

# Example usage of the function with variable-length arguments
result = sum_numbers(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print(f"The sum of the numbers is: {result}")

Output:

When the function is called with the arguments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the output will be 15.

Explanation:

1. The function sum_numbers is defined with *args, which allows it to accept any number of arguments.

2. Inside the function, a for loop is used to iterate over each argument received. The loop adds each argument to the total_sum variable, which is initialized to 0.

3. After iterating through all the arguments, the total sum of the numbers is returned.

4. When the function is called with the arguments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, it calculates the sum of these numbers and prints 15.

This program is a clear example of how variable-length arguments can be used in Python to make functions more flexible and capable of handling an arbitrary number of inputs.