What is the best way to return items in Python that meet a specific condition
<p>The code I'm currently using is:</p>

<pre><code>def f(*args):
    lst=[str(i) for i in args]
    if len(lst)==1:lst = lst[0]
    return lst
</code></pre>

<p>What I would like is:</p>

<pre><code>a=f(1) #'1', not [1]

a,b = f(1,2) #'1', '2'
</code></pre>

<p>Only one argument would be a list, which would be represented by <code>a</code>. </p>

<p>What alternative exists aside from using an <code>if</code> statement?</p>
