Is a function call an expression in python?

Question

According to this answer, a function call is a statement, but in the course I'm following in Coursera they say a function call is an expression.

So this is my guess: a function call does something, that's why it's a statement, but after it's called it evaluates and passes a value, which makes it also an expression.

Is a function call an expression?

Answer 1

A call is an expression; it is listed in the Expressions reference documentation.

If it was a statement, you could not use it as part of an expression; statements can contain expressions, but not the other way around.

As an example, return expression is a statement; it uses expressions to determine it's behaviour; the result of the expression is what the current function returns. You can use a call as part of that expression:

return some_function()

You cannot, however, use return as part of a call:

some_function(return)

That would be a syntax error.

It is the return that 'does something'; it ends the function and returns the result of the expression. It's not the expression itself that makes the function return.

If a python call was not an expression, you'd never be able to mix calls and other expression atoms into more complex expressions.