Best way to receive the 'return' value from a python generator

Question

Since Python 3.3, if a generator function returns a value, that becomes the value for the StopIteration exception that is raised. This can be collected a number of ways:

Answer 1

The most obvious method I can think of for this would be a user defined type that would remember the summary for you..

>>> import random
>>> class ValueProducer:
...    def produce_values(self, n):
...        self._total = 0
...        for i in range(n):
...           r = random.randrange(n*100)
...           self._total += r
...           yield r
...        self.value_summary = self._total/n
...        return self.value_summary
... 
>>> v = ValueProducer()
>>> for i in v.produce_values(3):
...    print(i)
... 
25
55
179
>>> print(v.value_summary)
86.33333333333333
>>> 

Answer 2

You can think of the value attribute of StopIteration (and arguably StopIteration itself) as implementation details, not designed to be used in "normal" code.

Have a look at PEP 380 that specifies the yield from feature of Python 3.3: It discusses that some alternatives of using StopIteration to carry the return value where considered.

Since you are not supposed to get the return value in an ordinary for loop, there is no syntax for it. The same way as you are not supposed to catch the StopIteration explicitly.

A nice solution for your situation would be a small utility class (might be useful enough for the standard library):

class Generator:
    def __init__(self, gen):
        self.gen = gen

    def __iter__(self):
        self.value = yield from self.gen

This wraps any generator and catches its return value to be inspected later:

>>> def test():
...     yield 1
...     return 2
...
>>> gen = Generator(test())
>>> for i in gen:
...    print(i)
...
1
>>> print(gen.value)
2

Answer 3

A light-weight way to handle the return value (one that doesn't involve instantiating an auxiliary class) is to use dependency injection.

Namely, one can pass in the function to handle / act on the return value using the following wrapper / helper generator function:

def handle_return(generator, func):
    returned = yield from generator
    func(returned)

For example, the following--

def generate():
    yield 1
    yield 2
    return 3

def show_return(value):
    print('returned: {}'.format(value))

for x in handle_return(generate(), show_return):
    print(x)

results in--

1
2
returned: 3

Answer 4

You could make a helper wrapper, that would catch the StopIteration and extract the value for you:

from functools import wraps

class ValueKeepingGenerator(object):
    def __init__(self, g):
        self.g = g
        self.value = None
    def __iter__(self):
        self.value = yield from self.g

def keep_value(f):
    @wraps(f)
    def g(*args, **kwargs):
        return ValueKeepingGenerator(f(*args, **kwargs))
    return g

@keep_value
def f():
    yield 1
    yield 2
    return "Hi"

v = f()
for x in v:
    print(x)

print(v.value)