Returning tuples with varying lengths¶
ID: py/mixed-tuple-returns
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: recommendation
Precision: high
Tags:
- quality
- reliability
- correctness
Query suites:
- python-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
A common pattern for functions returning multiple arguments is to return a single tuple containing said arguments. If the function has multiple return points, care must be taken to ensure that the tuples returned have the same length.
Recommendation¶
Ensure that the function returns tuples of similar lengths.
Example¶
In this example, the sum_length_product1 function simultaneously calculates the sum, length, and product of the values in the given list. For empty lists, however, the returned tuple only contains the sum and length of the list. In sum_length_product2 this error has been corrected.
def sum_length_product1(l):
if l == []:
return 0, 0 # this tuple has the wrong length
else:
val = l[0]
restsum, restlength, restproduct = sum_length_product1(l[1:])
return restsum + val, restlength + 1, restproduct * val
def sum_length_product2(l):
if l == []:
return 0, 0, 1 # this tuple has the correct length
else:
val = l[0]
restsum, restlength, restproduct = sum_length_product2(l[1:])
return restsum + val, restlength + 1, restproduct * val
References¶
Python Language Reference: Function definitions.