How to limit a number to be within a specified range? (Python)

Question

I want to limit a number to be within a certain range. Currently, I am doing the following:

minN = 1 maxN = 10 n = something() #some return value from a function n = max(minN, n) n = min(maxN, n) 

This keeps it within minN and maxN, but it doesn't look very nice. How could I do it better?

PS: FYI, I am using Python 2.6.

Answer 1

def clamp(n, minn, maxn):     return max(min(maxn, n), minn) 

or functionally equivalent:

clamp = lambda n, minn, maxn: max(min(maxn, n), minn) 

now, you use:

n = clamp(n, 7, 42) 

or make it perfectly clear:

n = minn if n < minn else maxn if n > maxn else n 

even clearer:

def clamp(n, minn, maxn):     if n < minn:         return minn     elif n > maxn:         return maxn     else:         return n 

Answer 2

Simply use numpy.clip() (doc):

n = np.clip(n, minN, maxN) 

It also works for whole arrays:

my_array = np.clip(my_array, minN, maxN)