#code snippit

def write_tuple_to_file(file_name,titles,tpl): f = csv.writer(open(file_name,'wb'), delimiter=',',quotechar='"') f.writerow(titles) for x in tpl: f.writerow(x)

Sometimes you have a variable that you need to pass along that carries if / else values depending on attributes of that variable (i.e. you need to return True or False based on a value, or you need to pass a particular message if the value passes a test -- such as "None" or "Null" or "N/A" if the variable is missing an attribute). Python's lamda saves me everytime I want to make sure I can pass on a set of fields without raising a NoneType or Key Error when I try to access attributes in these types of cases. Although I prefer using: foo = bar or baz sometimes that is not an option. Here is a code snippet that tests if a particular key is available and if not puts in a value. In this case, you cannot use tv = v['TV'] or 'F' because the interpreter will raise a KeyError. tv = (lambda x: v[x] if x in v.keys() else 'F')('TV') In this case, if dictionary v has key 'TV', then it will return the value: v['TV']; else, it will simply return 'F'. Now, when I pass tv along, it can accurately tell me the state of that attribute.