Python's Mutable Default Problem

Tim Ottinger — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Today I was perusing a very fine python article all professional python programmers should read. I had to grin when I saw one of my favorite python quirks/flaws.

Python only evaluates default parameters when it defines a function, leading to surprising side effects (example from saifoo):

def function(item, stuff = []):
    stuff.append(item)
    print stuff

function(1)
# prints '[1]'

function(2)
# prints '[1,2]' !!!

The grin on my face was because I was bit by this one again last Tuesday. You just don’t want to make a mutable object a default parameter. The solution I used was close to the solution from saifoo:

Saifoo.net:

def function(item, stuff=None):
   if stuff is None:
      stuff = []
   stuff.append(item)
   print stuff

This, of course, gives the correct behavior because it creates a new empty list each time it is called without a second parameter.

My solution actually combines some advice contained earlier in the article with the solution given for this problem:

Mine

def function(item, stuff=None):
   stuff = stuff or []
   stuff.append(item)
   print stuff

It’s not necessarily prettier, and I struggle with whether it is more obvious (to a Python programmer) or not. I fear it may be clever (a word I only use in the pejorative sense), but it is also clean-looking to me.

The point remains, though, that the mutable default parameter quirk is an ugly corner worth avoiding, and I suspect that any code that purposefully exploits that behavior to populate a structure that persists across calls will run a very real risk of being misunderstood.

We all know what happens when the next programmer to touch a program misunderstands it.

Object Mentor Blog: Tag pitfall

Python's Mutable Default Problem