6.6 Default argument values

You use a keyword argument when you call a function. You give default argument values when you define a function.

Here is a function that prints a string. By default, it displays the string as-is. However, you can pass a second argument that tells the function to put the characters in uppercase.

def display_string(the_string, put_in_uppercase=False):
    if put_in_uppercase:
        print(the_string.upper())
    else:
        print(the_string)

display_string("This is the default behavior")

This is the default behavior

display_string("This overrides the default behavior", True)

THIS OVERRIDES THE DEFAULT BEHAVIOR

You can have the second argument be the same as the default, and you can give it as a keyword argument.

display_string("This is not uppercased", put_in_uppercase=False)

This is not uppercased

Parameters with default values must follow...