How does functools partial do what it does?

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I am not able to get my head on how the partial works in functools.
I have the following code from here:

>>> sum = lambda x, y : x + y
>>> sum(1, 2)
3
>>> incr = lambda y : sum(1, y)
>>> incr(2)
3
>>> def sum2(x, y):
    return x + y

>>> incr2 = functools.partial(sum2, 1)
>>> incr2(4)
5

Now in the line

incr = lambda y : sum(1, y)

I get that whatever argument I pass to incr it will be passed as y to lambda which will return sum(1, y) i.e 1 + y.

I understand that. But I didn’t understand this incr2(4).

How does the 4 gets passed as x in partial function? To me, 4 should replace the sum2. What is the relation between x and 4?

7 Answers
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