What Are the Most Often Used Python Functions and How Do They Work?

Python functions are self-contained, logically grouped blocks with reusable, well-organized programs to execute a single operation or related collection of tasks. Python functions are crucial for creating better modularity for programs that repeat a lot of coding. Functions will be necessary if you want to avoid using the same set of codes repeatedly since as your code gets longer, it will become less reused. You can improve program readability, avoid repetitive coding, simply change a program, divide a complicated process into smaller, easier parts, and reduce the likelihood of error by using Python functions.

Categories of Python functions

There are two broad categories of Python functions, namely:

1. Pre-defined or built-in functions

These are the Python functions like print (), type(), id (),etc. that are already defined by Python.  

Def function_name (Parameter):

2. Customized or user-defined functions

These Python functions are defined by the users to shun repetition of code and ensure simplicity.

The syntax for defining such a function is:

“Doc String”

Body

Return value

It’s essential to use the def keyword here as it informs Python that a function has been defined with the return being optional. Let’s consider an example to understand how it works.

Def wish() :

print(“Good Morning”)

Thus, the function can now be called as:

wish()

Every instance you use it, “Good Morning” will get printed.

Most-used Python functions

Here are some of the most-used built-in Python functions:  

print()

You can use it to print to the standard output device.  

Here’s the syntax of this function:

print(value, …, sep=’ ‘, end=’\n’, file=sys.stdout, flush=False)  

In the print syntax above, sep can be a string that you want to put in between values or for defaults to space. Thus, if you put a list of words inside the print function, the separator would add a blank space between each word by default. This means for  

print(‘Magnimind’, ‘online’, ‘python’, ‘course’, ‘in’, ‘Silicon’, ‘Valley’)

the print result would be

abs()

This function is used when you want to find the absolute value of objects that are all numeric (e.g. a floating point number or an integer). It’s important to note that this in-built Python function gives a positive value of any number. This means any negative number will be converted into a positive number while the positive numbers would remain unchanged.

Here’s a look at the syntax of this function:

DataFrame.abs()

map()

This is one of the frequently used Python functions, which is perhaps the most readable and cleanest way to apply some kind of operation to your data. You can use it to apply a function to a series of components like a dictionary or list.  

Its syntax is:  

map(function, iterable, …)

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