Is there a builtin identity function in python?

Question

I\'d like to point to a function that does nothing:

def identity(*args)
    return args

my use case is something like this

Answer 1

No, there isn't.

Note that your identity:

1. is equivalent to lambda *args: args

2. Will box its args - i.e.

   In [6]: id = lambda *args: args
   
   In [7]: id(3)
   Out[7]: (3,)
   

So, you may want to use lambda arg: arg if you want a true identity function.

NB: This example will shadow the built-in id function (which you will probably never use).