What Does yield Do in Python? Generators Explained
Generators, lazily: what yield actually does to a function.
Aditya Challa1 min read
Summary
In Python, yield turns a function into a generator function: calling it returns a generator that produces values one at a time. Each yield hands back a value and pauses the function until the next value is requested.
Example
yield vs return
return ends the function and sends back one value. yield can produce many values over time and keeps local state between them, so you can process large data without building a full list in memory.
yield from
yield from other() delegates to another generator or iterable, added in Python 3.3 by PEP 380.
Related: /blog/how-to-check-if-a-file-exists-in-python
Related: /blog/are-python-dictionaries-ordered
Related: /blog/what-is-the-difference-between-is-and-equals-in-python
Sources
Lab evidence
What I found running this
Facts in this draft were checked on 12 Oct 2026 against the primary sources listed in the body (official docs, release schedules or Google/YouTube help pages). No benchmarks or timings were run, so the post makes no performance or measurement claims; dates are quoted as published by the maintainers, and any estimate is labelled as such.
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