Assignment to None

Question

I have a function which returns 3 numbers, e.g.:

def numbers():
   return 1,2,3

usually I call this function to receive all three returned numbers e.g.:

a, b, c = numbers()

However, I have one case in which I only need the first returned number. I tried using:

a, None, None = numbers()

But I receive "SyntaxError: assignment to None".

I know, of course, that I can use the first option I mentioned and then simply not use the "b" and "c" variables. However, this seems like a "waste" of two vars and feels like wrong programming.

Answer 1

a, _, _ = numbers()

is a pythonic way to do this. In Python 3, you could also use:

a, *_ = numbers()

To clarify _ is a normal variable name in Python, except it is conventionally used to refer to non-important variables.

Answer 2

Another way is of course a=numbers()[0], if you do not want to declare another variable. Having said this though, I generally use _ myself.