What does *tuple and **dict mean in Python?

As mentioned in PythonCookbook, * can be added before a tuple. What does * mean here?

Chapter 1.18. Mapping Names to Sequence Elements:

from collections import namedtuple
Stock = namedtuple('Stock', ['name', 'shares', 'price'])
s = Stock(*rec) 
# here rec is an ordinary tuple, for example: rec = ('ACME', 100, 123.45)

In the same section, **dict presents:

from collections import namedtuple
Stock = namedtuple('Stock', ['name', 'shares', 'price', 'date', 'time'])
# Create a prototype instance
stock_prototype = Stock('', 0, 0.0, None, None)
# Function to convert a dictionary to a Stock
def dict_to_stock(s):
    return stock_prototype._replace(**s)

What is **'s function here?

In a function call

*t means "treat the elements of this iterable as positional arguments to this function call."

def foo(x, y):
    print(x, y)

>>> t = (1, 2)
>>> foo(*t)
1 2

Since v3.5, you can also do this in list/tuple/set syntax:

>>> [1, *(2, 3), 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4]

**d means "treat the key-value pairs in the dictionary as additional named arguments to this function call."

def foo(x, y):
    print(x, y)

>>> d = {'x':1, 'y':2}
>>> foo(**d)
1 2

Since v3.5, you can also do this in dictionary syntax:

>>> d = {'a': 1}
>>> {'b': 2, **d}
{'b': 2, 'a': 1}

In a function signature

*t means "take all additional positional arguments to this function and pack them into this parameter as a tuple."

def foo(*t):
    print(t)

>>> foo(1, 2)
(1, 2)

**d means "take all additional named arguments to this function and insert them into this parameter as dictionary entries."

def foo(**d):
    print(d)

>>> foo(x=1, y=2)
{'x': 1, 'y': 2}

In assignments and for loops

*x means "consume additional elements in the right hand side", but it doesn't have to be the last item. Note that x will always be a list, even if a tuple/set is used for assignment:

>>> w, *x = (1, 2, 3, 4)
>>> w
1
>>> x
[2, 3, 4]

>>> *x, y = (1, 2, 3, 4)
>>> x
[1, 2, 3]
>>> y
4

>>> w, *x, y = (1, 2, 3, 4)
>>> w
1
>>> x
[2, 3]
>>> y
4

>>> for (w, *x, y) in [ (1, 2, 3, 4) ]: print(w, x, y)
... 
1 [2, 3] 4

More on function signatures

Note that parameters that appear after the starred parameter (the one marked *) are keyword-only:

def f(a, *, b): ...

f(1, b=2)  # fine
f(1, 2)    # error: b is keyword-only
# TypeError: f() takes 1 positional argument but 2 were given

Python3.8 added positional-only parameters, meaning parameters that cannot be used as keyword arguments. They appear before a / (a pun on * preceding keyword-only args).

def f(a, /, p, *, k): ...

f(  1,   2, k=3)  # fine
f(  1, p=2, k=3)  # fine
f(a=1, p=2, k=3)  # error: a is positional-only
# TypeError: f() got some positional-only arguments passed as keyword arguments: 'a'