How to define functions with a list of arguments

Question

I wante to define several functions, all of them with the same arguments, for example:

f[a_, b_, c_]:= ...
g[a_, b_, c_]:= ...
h[a_, b_, c_]:= ...

How can I do this by using something like args = {a,b,c}?

So, having something like

f[arg_]:= ...
g[arg_]:= ...
h[arg_]:= ...

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Patrick Stevens · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-29 12:44:45Z

10

I'm not quite sure what you mean. If you want a way of providing only one argument which then is interpreted as three, you could do:

f[{a_, b_, c_}] := …

f[args_] := With[{a = args[[1]], b = args[[2]], c = args[[3]]}, … ]

fInternal[a_, b_, c_] := …
f[args_] := fInternal[{args}]

or for that last one

f = fInternal @* List;

If you want a way of making sure all three functions receive the same arguments:

args = {x_, y_, z_};

f[args] := x^2 + y^2

f[{1, 2, 3}] (* outputs 5 *)

or

f[Sequence @@ args] := x^2 + y^2

f[1, 2, 3] (* outputs 5 *)

answered Sep 29, 2015 at 12:44

Patrick Stevens

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2

$\begingroup$ small improvement to the last approach, you can do args=Sequence@@{x_,y_,z_}, then usage is simply f[args]=.. $\endgroup$
– george2079
Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 19:03
$\begingroup$ I'm no experienced Mathematica user, but is there any reason why f can't be written like this? f[{x_, y_, z_}] := x^2 + y^2 $\endgroup$
– Ethan Bierlein
Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 20:23
$\begingroup$ @Ethan Yes, that's fine also, but the question is about making it so that we can create several functions with the same signature. The advantage of the second method is that g[args] will immediately have the right arguments. $\endgroup$
– Patrick Stevens
Commented Sep 29, 2015 at 21:12

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