title: What does the asterisk do in *a, b, c = line.split()?
body: <p>Assume <code>line</code> is: <code>"Chicago Sun 01:52"</code>. </p>
  
  <p>What does <code>*a, b, c = line.split()</code> do? In particular, what is the significance of the asterisk?</p>
  
  <p>Edit: Upon testing it, it seems like <code>"Chicago"</code>, <code>"Sun"</code> and <code>"01:52"</code> are all stored in <code>a</code>, <code>b</code> and <code>c</code>. The asterisk seems to lead to <code>"Chicago"</code> being stored in a as the first element of a list. So, we have <code>a = ["Chicago"]</code>, <code>b = "Sun"</code> and <code>c = "01:52"</code>. Could anyone point to material on the functionality of the asterisk operator in this situation?</p>