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Learn to Code: Python for Absolute Beginners

General Built-in Functions

Explore how to use Python's general built-in functions including divmod, reversed, round, hex, bin, and sorted. Understand how these utilities perform common tasks such as computing quotient and remainder, reversing sequences, rounding numbers, converting numbers to binary or hexadecimal, and sorting lists or strings. This lesson provides practical examples to help you apply these functions confidently in your Python programs.

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Built-in functions

Python provides built-in utility functions that make it easier for programmers to perform routine tasks. The best-known built-in functions are len(), range(), input(), and print().

Let’s explore some commonly used built-in functions.

Quotient and remainder together

The divmod() function computes the remainder after the division of two numbers. It differs from the modulus operator % in that it returns two resulting values, the quotient and the remainder.

Remember: A function in Python might return two or more values.

Let’s use an example program to explore the difference between the divmod() function and the % operator.

Python 3.10.4
print(13 % 3)
print (divmod(13 , 4))
# we can store the two results as below
q , r = divmod(13 , 4)
print('Quotient:',q)
print('Remainder:',r)

In the program above:

  • We use % to calculate the remainder.

  • We use built-in divmod() function, which accepts two parameters:

    • The dividend
    • The divisor

  • The function then returns two values:

    • The quotient
    • The remainder

Reverse order

The reversed() function is used to access the elements of a list or string in reverse order. The result of this function can be accessed with the help of a loop. The following code will demonstrate how this function works:

Python 3.10.4
for a in reversed([1,2,3]):
   print(a)
for b in reversed("nib"):
   print(b)

In the program above:

  • A list passes to the reversed() function in the for loop
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