How to find argument list of a callable?

[Andrew Dalke]

David Eppstein:
> Suppose I have a callable object x, and suppose for simplicity that it
> doesn't take any *- or **-arguments.  How can I get a list of the number
> and names of the arguments of x?

Take a look at the 'inspect' module.

>>> import inspect
>>> def spam(x, y, z=4):
...  pass
...
>>> inspect.getargspec(spam)
(['x', 'y', 'z'], None, None, (4,))
>>>
>>> def eggs(a, b, *c, **d):
...  pass
...
>>> inspect.getargspec(eggs)
(['a', 'b'], 'c', 'd', None)
>>>

                    Andrew
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com