how to print variable name from *args in python

Question

I have defined a function taking a variable number of arguments.

These arguments will all be lists of floats, each variable having a name, say a , b , c , for 3 arguments. They will look like:

a=[1,2]
b=[3,4]
c=[5,6]

I want to be able to work with the name of these arguments, ie

def function(*args):
    for arg in args:
        plt.plot(x_value, arg, label="the name of arg")

I call the function as function(a,b,c)

"the name of arg" shall be the string a for the first iteration of the for loop, the string b for the second iteration of the for loop and the string c for the third iteration of the for loop.

What shall I put there at label= ? I have tried various approaches, they all result either in printing the string arg , or the actual value of arg , ie [1,2] for the first iteration of the for-loop.

Thank you!

Answer 1

If you want the argument names, you have to use named arguments or a dictionary.

def function(**kwargs):
    for name, value in kwargs.items():
        plt.plot(x_value, value, label=name)

function(a=a, b=b, c=c)

This passes three named arguments to the function, a , b , and c .