Default arguments with *args and **kwargs

The syntax in the other question is python3.x only and specifies keyword only arguments. It doesn’t work on python2.x.

For python2.x, I would pop it out of kwargs:

def func(arg1, arg2, *args, **kwargs):
    opt_arg = kwargs.pop('opt_arg', 'def_val')

Another way to handle with Python 2.x:

def foo(*args, **kwargs):
    if 'kwarg-name' not in kwargs.keys():
        kwargs['kwarg-name'] = 'kwarg-name-default-value'
    return bar(*args, **kwargs)

This handles passing arbitrary *args to the underlying call unlike @nneonneo’s answer.

Sticking quite close to your solution approach while trying to make it more generic and more compact I would suggest to consider something like this:

>>> def func(arg1, arg2, *args, **kwargs):
...     kwargs_with_defaults = dict({'opt_arg': 'def_val', 'opt_arg2': 'default2'}, **kwargs)
...     #...
...     return arg1, arg2, args, kwargs_with_defaults

>>> func('a1', 'a2', 'a3', 'a5', x='foo', y='bar')
('a1', 'a2', ('a3', 'a5'), {'opt_arg2': 'default2', 'opt_arg': 'def_val', 'y': 'bar', 'x': 'foo'})

>>> func('a1', 'a2', 'a3', 'a5', opt_arg='explicit_value', x='foo', y='bar')
('a1', 'a2', ('a3', 'a5'), {'opt_arg2': 'default2', 'opt_arg': 'explicit_value', 'y': 'bar', 'x': 'foo'})

You could also use a decorator like this:

import functools
def default_kwargs(**defaultKwargs):
    def actual_decorator(fn):
        @functools.wraps(fn)
        def g(*args, **kwargs):
            defaultKwargs.update(kwargs)
            return fn(*args, **defaultKwargs)
        return g
    return actual_decorator

Then just do:

@default_kwargs(defaultVar1 = defaultValue 1, ...)
def foo(*args, **kwargs):
    # Anything in here

For instance:

@default_kwargs(a=1)
def f(*args, **kwargs):
    print(kwargs['a']+ 1)

f() # Returns 2
f(3) # Returns 4

This answer is an extension of what Daniel Américo suggested.

This decorator assigns default kwarg values if they are not strictly defined.

from functools import wraps

def force_kwargs(**defaultKwargs):
    def decorator(f):
        @wraps(f)
        def g(*args, **kwargs):
            new_args = {}
            new_kwargs = defaultKwargs
            varnames = f.__code__.co_varnames
            new_kwargs.update(kwargs)
            for k, v in defaultKwargs.items():
                if k in varnames:
                    i = varnames.index(k)
                    new_args[(i, k)] = new_kwargs.pop(k)
            # Insert new_args into the correct position of the args.
            full_args = list(args)
            for i, k in sorted(new_args.keys()):
                if i <= len(full_args):
                    full_args.insert(i, new_args.pop((i, k)))
                else:
                    break
            # re-insert the value as a key-value pair
            for (i, k), val in new_args.items():
                new_kwargs[k] = val
            return f(*tuple(full_args), **new_kwargs)
        return g
    return decorator

Result

@force_kwargs(c=7)
def f(a, b='B', c='C', d='D', *args, **kw):
    return a, b, c, d, args, kw
#                               a    b  c    d  args      kwargs
f('r')                      # 'r', 'B', 7, 'D',   (),         {}
f(1,2,3)                    #   1,   2, 7,   3,   (),         {}
f(1, 2, 3, b=3, c=9, f='F') #   1,   3, 9,   2, (3,), {'f': 'F'}

Variant

If you want to use the default values as written in the function definition, you could access the argument default values using f.func_defaults, which lists the default values. You would have to zip them with the end of the f.__code__.varnames to match these default values with the variable names.

Similar approach to @yaccob, but clear and concise:

In Python 3.5 or greater:

def foo(a, b=3, *args, **kwargs):
  defaultKwargs = { 'c': 10, 'd': 12 }
  kwargs = { **defaultKwargs, **kwargs }
  print(a, b, args, kwargs)
  
  # Do something    

foo(1) # 1 3 () {'c': 10, 'd': 12}
foo(1, d=5) # 1 3 () {'c': 10, 'd': 5}
foo(1, 2, 4, d=5) # 1 2 (4,) {'c': 10, 'd': 5}

Note: you can use
In Python 2

kwargs = merge_two_dicts(defaultKwargs, kwargs)

In Python 3.5

kwargs = { **defaultKwargs, **kwargs }

In Python 3.9

kwargs = defaultKwargs | kwargs  # NOTE: 3.9+ ONLY

Any new keyword argument will not raise errors even if they are not used in the function. Let’s say you included another argument as:

foo(1, 2, 4, d=5, e=6) # 1 2 (4,) {'c': 10, 'd': 5, 'e': 6}

It is also possible to limit the keyword arguments to the default arguments by creating a function to set the keyword arguments:

def set_kwargs(kwargs, defaultKwargs):
    kwargs = {**defaultKwargs, **kwargs}
    for key in kwargs.keys():
        if key not in defaultKwargs.keys():
            raise NameError(f'{key} is not a default argument')
    return kwargs

and set it in the function:

def foo(a, b=3, *args, **kwargs):
    kwargs = set_kwargs(kwargs, { 'c': 10, 'd': 12 })
    print(a, b, args, kwargs)

    # Do something

foo(1) # 1 3 () {'c': 10, 'd': 12}
foo(1, d=5) # 1 3 () {'c': 10, 'd': 5}
foo(1, 2, 4, d=5) # 1 2 (4,) {'c': 10, 'd': 5}

foo(1, 2, 4, c=5, e=6) #
Traceback (most recent call last):

  Input In [61] in <cell line: 1>
    foo(1, 2, 4, c=5, e=6)

  Input In [54] in foo
    set_kwargs(kwargs, { 'c': 10, 'd': 12 })

  Input In [46] in set_kwargs
    raise NameError(f'{key} is not a default argument')

NameError: e is not a default argument