Hidden Gems of Python!!

9 Powerful Python Built-In Functions You’re Overlooking

Enhance Your Python Code with These Functions

Abhay Parashar
The Pythoneers
Published in
8 min readOct 12, 2024

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yPhoto by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

We’ve all been there — spending time crafting a function to perform a specific task, only to discover that Python already has a built-in function for it. Python is packed with powerful functions that can save us valuable time. In this blog, we going to see a bunch of powerful python built-in functions you’re overlooking.

“Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use Python’s built-in functions to streamline your code.”

1. ZIP_Longest

Merge iterables, no matter their size.

The zip_longest() function from the itertools module in Python allows you to zip multiple iterables of different lengths. Unlike zip(), which stops at the shortest iterable, zip_longest() continues zipping until the longest iterable is exhausted, filling the missing values with a specified fillvalue (default is None).

  • Handles unequal-length iterables: It is handy when working with iterables of different lengths, ensuring no data is lost due to uneven sizes.
  • Allows Custom fill: The fillvalue argument lets you specify how to handle missing…

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Abhay Parashar
The Pythoneers

CyberSec 🧑‍💻 | Top Writer | 5M+ Views | Learning and Sharing Knowledge Everyday | Python is ❤️| Editor of The Pythoneers | Nominating Great Tech Stories