Accessing variables names from a list in python

Question

I'm working with python and I was just wondering that is it possible to have variable names be stored in another list.

Achievement = ['hi', 'hey', 'hello']
lines = ['Achievement', 'hi']
print lines[0][2]

I want the output to be 'hello' in this case. Can anyone suggest me any way to achieve that.

You could store variable (not variable name) in another list. `lines = [Achievement, 'hi']` — kvorobiev, Sep 15 '15 at 11:43
I don't understand the downvotes here. It is not a bad question per se, even if the idea is quite bad. — glglgl, Sep 15 '15 at 11:45
possible duplicate of [How do I do variable variables in Python?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1373164/how-do-i-do-variable-variables-in-python) — Tim, Sep 15 '15 at 11:50

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:45

Usually if you want to dynamically lookup names in Python code, correct solution is to use mapping. In Python basic mapping object is dictionary. Sample code which does what you want may be following:

d = {'Achievement': ['hi', 'hey', 'hello']}
key = 'Achievement'
index = 2
print d[key][index]

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:44

It would be possible, yes. You can do so by accessing globals() and/or locals() and using their result (which is a dict of varname: varcontent).

But that's very bad style as you can read here.

There are much better ways of doing so, including

Achievement = ['hi', 'hey', 'hello']
lines = [Achievement, 'hi']
print lines[0][2]

or using a dict or other things.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:45

1

But if you really wanted to do this

code:

 d=globals()
 d[lines[0]][2]

output:

 'hello'

answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:45

The6thSense

8,103
8
31
65

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:49

1

Achievement = ['hi', 'hey', 'hello']
lines = ['Achievement', 'hi']
print eval(lines[0])[2]

answered Sep 15 '15 at 11:49

yrykde

11
3

Using `eval` is generally bad practice. See [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/1832957/3087339) – elParaguayo Sep 15 '15 at 11:57

Accessing variables names from a list in python

4 Answers4