What is the exact term for 'argv' in python?

Question

I am currently trying to grasp the exact name of argv function (if it can be called a function) that can be imported from sys or system-specific parameters. I found 3 definitions:

• argument vector
• argument value
• argument variable

So which one is it? Perhaps it doesn't matter how one calls it? Does it even have an accepted name?

Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

It doesn't really matter. It's a list (not a function), and the name argv is just borrowed from the conventional name used in C. Most of the time, you are better off using a library like argparse to process the command line arguments, in which case you won't even be using sys.argv directly.

Answer 2

argv is a variable (a list of arguments), and is therefore not a function.

The naming seems to come from conventions used in C, which uses argc (argument count) and argv (argument vector). See also https://stackoverflow.com/a/3024202/693140