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Lambda functions

If you have ever used the *apply family of functions (such as sapply() and lapply()) in R, there's a good chance you might have used anonymous functions. Anonymous functions in Python are known as lambda functions.

These functions are not too different from a regular function. The keyword in a lambda function is lambda instead of def. These functions are typically used for functions that are 'one-line' long.

For example, a function that returns the cube of a number can be written as:

cube_lambda = lambda x: x**3
print(cube_lambda(3))

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This exercise is part of the course

Python for R Users

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Exercise instructions

  • Convert the sq_func() regular function into a lambda function and call it sq_lambda.
  • Use the lambda function to print the results when 3 is passed into the function.

Hands-on interactive exercise

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

# A function that takes a value and returns its square
def sq_func(x):
    return(x**2)
    
# A lambda function that takes a value and returns its square
sq_lambda = ____ ____: ____

# Use the lambda function
print(____(____))
Edit and Run Code