Can namedtuples have default values?

Can namedtuples in Python have default values?

Yes, namedtuples can have default values using the defaultdict from the collections module or by subclassing.

Can you show me an example of how to do that?

Sure! You can subclass namedtuple and provide default values like this:

from collections import namedtuple

class Point(namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])):
    __slots__ = ()
    def __new__(cls, x=0, y=0):
        return super(Point, cls).__new__(cls, x, y)

This way, if you create a Point without arguments, it defaults to (0, 0).

What if I want to use a regular namedtuple without subclassing?

You can use the **kwargs approach to provide defaults when creating an instance. For example:

from collections import namedtuple

Point = namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])

def create_point(x=0, y=0):
    return Point(x, y)

This allows you to create a Point with default values without subclassing.