# Placeholders

TensorFlow provides a placeholder operation that must be fed with data on execution. For more info, see the section on Feeding data.

### tf.placeholder(dtype, shape=None, name=None)

Inserts a placeholder for a tensor that will be always fed.

Important: This tensor will produce an error if evaluated. Its value must be fed using the feed_dict optional argument to Session.run(), Tensor.eval(), or Operation.run().

For example:

x = tf.placeholder(tf.float32, shape=(1024, 1024))
y = tf.matmul(x, x)

with tf.Session() as sess:
print(sess.run(y))  # ERROR: will fail because x was not fed.

rand_array = np.random.rand(1024, 1024)
print(sess.run(y, feed_dict={x: rand_array}))  # Will succeed.

##### Args:
• dtype: The type of elements in the tensor to be fed.
• shape: The shape of the tensor to be fed (optional). If the shape is not specified, you can feed a tensor of any shape.
• name: A name for the operation (optional).
##### Returns:

A Tensor that may be used as a handle for feeding a value, but not evaluated directly.

### tf.placeholder_with_default(input, shape, name=None)

A placeholder op that passes though input when its output is not fed.

##### Args:
• input: A Tensor. The default value to produce when output is not fed.
• shape: A tf.TensorShape or list of ints. The (possibly partial) shape of the tensor.
• name: A name for the operation (optional).
##### Returns:

A Tensor. Has the same type as input. A placeholder tensor that defaults to input if it is not fed.

For feeding SparseTensors which are composite type, there is a convenience function:

### tf.sparse_placeholder(dtype, shape=None, name=None)

Inserts a placeholder for a sparse tensor that will be always fed.

Important: This sparse tensor will produce an error if evaluated. Its value must be fed using the feed_dict optional argument to Session.run(), Tensor.eval(), or Operation.run().

For example:

x = tf.sparse_placeholder(tf.float32)
y = tf.sparse_reduce_sum(x)

with tf.Session() as sess:
print(sess.run(y))  # ERROR: will fail because x was not fed.

indices = np.array([[3, 2, 0], [4, 5, 1]], dtype=np.int64)
values = np.array([1.0, 2.0], dtype=np.float32)
shape = np.array([7, 9, 2], dtype=np.int64)
print(sess.run(y, feed_dict={
x: tf.SparseTensorValue(indices, values, shape)}))  # Will succeed.
print(sess.run(y, feed_dict={
x: (indices, values, shape)}))  # Will succeed.

sp = tf.SparseTensor(indices=indices, values=values, shape=shape)
sp_value = sp.eval(session)
print(sess.run(y, feed_dict={x: sp_value}))  # Will succeed.

##### Args:
• dtype: The type of values elements in the tensor to be fed.
• shape: The shape of the tensor to be fed (optional). If the shape is not specified, you can feed a sparse tensor of any shape.
• name: A name for prefixing the operations (optional).
##### Returns:

A SparseTensor that may be used as a handle for feeding a value, but not evaluated directly.