Reduce() and lambda functions

You're getting very good at using lambda functions! Here's one more function to add to your repertoire of skills. The reduce() function is useful for performing some computation on a list and, unlike map() and filter(), returns a single value as a result. To use reduce(), you must import it from the functools module.

Remember gibberish() from a few exercises back?

# Define gibberish
def gibberish(*args):
    """Concatenate strings in *args together."""
    hodgepodge = ''
    for word in args:
        hodgepodge += word
    return hodgepodge

gibberish() simply takes a list of strings as an argument and returns, as a single-value result, the concatenation of all of these strings. In this exercise, you will replicate this functionality by using reduce() and a lambda function that concatenates strings together.

This is a part of the course

“Introduction to Functions in Python”

View Course

Exercise instructions

Import the reduce function from the functools module.
In the reduce() call, pass a lambda function that takes two string arguments item1 and item2 and concatenates them; also pass the list of strings, stark. Assign the result to result. The first argument to reduce() should be the lambda function and the second argument is the list stark.

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

# Import reduce from functools


# Create a list of strings: stark
stark = ['robb', 'sansa', 'arya', 'brandon', 'rickon']

# Use reduce() to apply a lambda function over stark: result
result = reduce(____, ____)

# Print the result
print(result)

Edit and Run Code