One method for creating recursive lambda functions involves assigning the function to a variable and then referencing that variable within the function itself. A common example of this is the recursive calculation of the factorial of a number - such as shown in the following code:
lambda_factorial = lambda i:1 if i==0 else i*lambda_factorial(i-1)
print(lambda_factorial(4)) # 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 12 * 2 = 24
The lambda function, through its variable assignment, is passed a value (4) which it evaluates and returns 1 if it is 0 or else it returns the current value (i
) * another calculation by the lambda function of the value - 1 (i-1
). This continues until the passed value is decremented to 0 (return 1
). A process which can be visualized as: