Keyword arguments in Python - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of function call with keyword arguments

What is the output of this Python code?

Python

def greet(name, greeting="Hello", punctuation="!"):
    return f"{greeting}, {name}{punctuation}"

print(greet(name="Alice", punctuation=".", greeting="Hi"))

A "Hi, Alice!"

B "Hello, Alice!"

C "Hi, Alice."

D "Hello, Alice."

💡 Hint

Check how keyword arguments match the function parameters regardless of order.

The function greet is called with keyword arguments. The greeting is set to "Hi", punctuation to ".", and name to "Alice". The output string uses these values exactly.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Function call with missing keyword argument

What is the output of this code snippet?

Python

def calculate_area(length, width=5):
    return length * width

print(calculate_area(width=3, length=4))

A 20

B 12

C TypeError

D 15

💡 Hint

Keyword arguments can be passed in any order, but all required arguments must be provided.

The function is called with length=4 and width=3. The area is 4 * 3 = 12.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Output when mixing positional and keyword arguments

What will this code print?

Python

def describe_pet(pet_name, animal_type="dog"):
    return f"I have a {animal_type} named {pet_name}."

print(describe_pet("Whiskers", animal_type="cat"))

A TypeError

B "I have a dog named Whiskers."

C "I have a cat named animal_type."

D "I have a cat named Whiskers."

💡 Hint

Positional arguments come first, then keyword arguments can override defaults.

The first argument "Whiskers" is assigned to pet_name. The keyword argument animal_type="cat" overrides the default "dog". So the output uses "cat" and "Whiskers".

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Error caused by duplicate argument assignment

What error does this code raise?

Python

def multiply(x, y):
    return x * y

print(multiply(2, x=3))

A TypeError: multiply() got multiple values for argument 'x'

B TypeError: multiply() missing 1 required positional argument: 'y'

C SyntaxError

D 6

💡 Hint

Check if the same argument is given twice by position and keyword.

The first argument 2 is assigned to x positionally, then x=3 is passed as keyword argument. This causes a conflict and raises a TypeError about multiple values for 'x'.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Understanding **kwargs behavior

What is the output of this code?

Python

def show_info(**kwargs):
    return kwargs.get('name', 'Unknown') + ' is ' + str(kwargs.get('age', 'ageless'))

print(show_info(age=30, name='Bob'))

A "Bob is 30"

B TypeError

C "Bob is ageless"

D "Unknown is 30"

💡 Hint

**kwargs collects keyword arguments into a dictionary.

The function receives keyword arguments as a dictionary. It gets 'name' and 'age' keys and returns a string combining them. Since both keys are provided, it returns "Bob is 30".