return statement in functions

[Jp Calderone]

On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 10:37:47AM -0500, hokieghal99 wrote:
> OK, I took the good advice I was given here and made my functions very
> specific. I made them all return something sane... something one would
> expect them to return. I even wrote a function to handle the report 
> writing itself, but when it gets the output from the other functions to 
> write the report file, it only writes this:
> 
> <function fs_object_count at 0x405d84c4>
> <function clean_dir_names at 0x405d8534>
> <function clean_file_names at 0x405d856c>
> <function clean_dir_spaces at 0x405d85a4>
> <function clean_file_spaces at 0x405d85dc>
> <function doc_extension at 0x405d8614>
> <function xls_extension at 0x405d864c>
> <function pdf_extension at 0x405d8684>
> <function ppt_extension at 0x405d86bc>
> <function wpd_extension at 0x405d86f4>
> <function jpg_extension at 0x405d872c>
> 
> I would like for it to write out what the functions returned. Obviously, 
> I am missing something very fundamental here. Could someone hit me in 
> the head with a hammer and help me understand this?
> 
> Here is an example of what I'm trying to do. Please be gentle with me. 
> From experience, I know that intelligence and modesty do not mix, but 
> make an exception for me, just this once...
> 
> The ugly report function:
> 
> def report(a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k):
>    outputFile = open('report.txt', 'w')
>    print >> outputFile, a
>    print >> outputFile, b
>    print >> outputFile, c
>    print >> outputFile, d
>    print >> outputFile, e
>    print >> outputFile, f
>    print >> outputFile, g
>    print >> outputFile, h
>    print >> outputFile, i
>    print >> outputFile, j
>    print >> outputFile, k
>    outputFile.close()


  Ugly *indeed*

    def report(*work):
        outputFile = open('report.txt', 'w')
        for f in work:
            outputFile.write(str(work()) + '\n')
        outputFile.close()

  Notice how it does "work()", not "work".  This is the root of the trouble
in your solution - you aren't calling the functions.

  Jp
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