Getting the keyword arguments actually passed to a Python method

Question

I\'m dreaming of a Python method with explicit keyword args:

def func(a=None, b=None, c=None):
    for arg, val in magic_arg_dict.items():   # Where do I get         


        

Answer 1

There's probably better ways to do this, but here's my take:

def CompareArgs(argdict, **kwargs):
    if not set(argdict.keys()) <= set(kwargs.keys()):
        # not <= may seem weird, but comparing sets sometimes gives weird results.
        # set1 <= set2 means that all items in set 1 are present in set 2
        raise ValueError("invalid args")

def foo(**kwargs):
    # we declare foo's "standard" args to be a, b, c
    CompareArgs(kwargs, a=None, b=None, c=None)
    print "Inside foo"


if __name__ == "__main__":
    foo(a=1)
    foo(a=1, b=3)
    foo(a=1, b=3, c=5)
    foo(c=10)
    foo(bar=6)

and its output:

Inside foo
Inside foo
Inside foo
Inside foo
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "a.py", line 18, in 
    foo(bar=6)
  File "a.py", line 9, in foo
    CompareArgs(kwargs, a=None, b=None, c=None)
  File "a.py", line 5, in CompareArgs
    raise ValueError("invalid args")
ValueError: invalid args

This could probably be converted to a decorator, but my decorators need work. Left as an exercise to the reader :P