Unlock Hidden Python Tricks: Variable Arguments, Glob, UUID, Serialization & More

Functions with Arbitrary Number of Arguments

Python not only supports optional parameters but also allows you to define a function that can accept any number of arguments by using *args, which collects extra positional arguments into a tuple.

Below is an example of a function that uses a tuple to handle arbitrary arguments.

Using glob() to Find Files

The glob() function is a more powerful alternative to listdir(), allowing pattern‑based file searching.

You can search for multiple file types with a single call:

To obtain absolute paths, apply realpath() to the results:

Debugging

The inspect module provides powerful introspection tools useful for debugging.

Generating Unique IDs

Instead of misusing md5(), use the dedicated uuid() function to create universally unique identifiers.

Note that the generated strings may contain similar trailing characters because they incorporate the machine’s MAC address; you can mitigate collisions by using alternative functions.

Serialization

Python offers built‑in serialization via the pickle module, and also supports JSON for more portable data exchange.

JSON serialization is more compact and compatible with JavaScript and many other languages, though some complex object information may be lost.

Compressing Strings

Python can compress long strings without creating archive files, using modules such as zlib.

Registering Shutdown Functions

The atexit module lets you register functions that run automatically when a script terminates, even after unhandled exceptions or user interruptions.

By calling atexit.register(), your cleanup code is guaranteed to execute regardless of how the script ends.