The Unpacking Operator * in Lists and Dictionaries

Imagine you have a list of values or multiple dictionaries and want to combine them easily.
Python’s unpacking operators * and ** give you a clean way to expand sequences and mappings.

Using * in function calls

def add(a, b, c):
    return a + b + c

values = [1, 2, 3]
print(add(*values))

# 6

Using * in list creation

numbers = [1, 2, 3]
more = [*numbers, 4, 5]
print(more)

# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Using ** in dictionaries

dict1 = {"a": 1, "b": 2}
dict2 = {"c": 3}
merged = {**dict1, **dict2}
print(merged)

# {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3}

Conclusion

The unpacking operators make it simple to expand, merge, and pass values dynamically.
They improve readability and reduce boilerplate code.