# More Control Flow Tools — Keyword Arguments

> Functions can also be called using keyword arguments of the form kwarg=value.

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Functions can also be called using keyword arguments of the form kwarg=value. For instance, the following function

def parrot(voltage, state='a stiff', action='voom', type='Norwegian Blue'): print("-- This parrot wouldn't", action, end=' ') print("if you put", voltage, "volts through it.") print("-- Lovely plumage, the", type) print("-- It's", state, "!")

accepts one required argument (voltage) and three optional arguments (state, action, and type). This function can be called in any of the following ways

parrot(1000) # 1 positional argument parrot(voltage=1000) # 1 keyword argument parrot(voltage=1000000, action='VOOOOOM') # 2 keyword arguments parrot(action='VOOOOOM', voltage=1000000) # 2 keyword arguments parrot('a million', 'bereft of life', 'jump') # 3 positional arguments parrot('a thousand', state='pushing up the daisies') # 1 positional, 1 keyword

but all the following calls would be invalid

parrot() # required argument missing parrot(voltage=5.0, 'dead') # non-keyword argument after a keyword argument parrot(110, voltage=220) # duplicate value for the same argument parrot(actor='John Cleese') # unknown keyword argument

In a function call, keyword arguments must follow positional arguments. All the keyword arguments passed must match one of the arguments accepted by the function (e.g. actor is not a valid argument for the parrot function), and their order is not important. This also includes non-optional arguments (e.g. parrot(voltage=1000) is valid too). No argument may receive a value more than once. Here's an example that fails due to this restriction

&gt;&gt;&gt; def function(a): ... pass ... &gt;&gt;&gt; function(0, a=0) Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in TypeError: function() got multiple values for argument 'a'

When a final formal parameter of the form name is present, it receives a dictionary (see typesmapping) containing all keyword arguments except for those corresponding to a formal parameter. This may be combined with a formal parameter of the form name (described in the next subsection) which receives a tuple containing the positional arguments beyond the formal parameter list. (name must occur before name.) For example, if we define a function like this …

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