Use input variables across Python scripts

Question

I'm trying to access variables that are contained in functions after an operation is performed in another Python script, but I don't want to run through the operations of the function, I just need access to the returned value of the variables gh and user.

I've tried different ways to do this such as setting the initial value of the variable to None in the main script, but the problem I run into is when I do an import of script1 into script2, it runs through the script and resets the variable in question to None again. In addition, I've tried to wrap them in a class with no luck.

Also, I've tried using if __name__ = '__main__': to run the functions, but I can't seem to figure out how to get the values out of the functions into script2 to use as global variables.

I've seen some answers here that may work such as returning the values of the function to another function for use??, but I I can't quite nail the syntax as the function doesn't seem to hold the value of the variable.

If I have asked this question incorrectly, please let me know how to improve it as I'm trying to ask "good" questions so I don't get banned. I'm still learning and I do ask a lot of questions here, but I've learned a lot by doing so.

script1.py:

#! /usr/bin/python

import github3
from github3 import login, GitHub, authorize
from getpass import getuser, getpass
import requests

import configparser

def getCreds():
    try:

        user = input('GitHub username: ')
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        user = getuser()

    password = getpass('GitHub token for {0}: '.format(user))

    gh = login(user, password)


if __name__ == '__main__':

    getCreds()
    exec(open("next_file.py").read())

script2.py

import os
import github3
from github3 import login, GitHub, authorize
from getpass import getuser, getpass
import requests
import csv
import configparser
import sys
import script1
import codecs

gh = script1.gh
user = script1.user

def one_commit_one_file_change_pr():

    #open csv file and create header rows
    with open('c:\\commit_filechange.csv', 'w+') as f:
        csv_writer = csv.writer(f)
        csv_writer.writerow(['Login', 'Title', 'Commits', 'Changed Files','Deletions', 'Additions'])

    for pr in result:
        data = pr.as_dict()
        changes = (gh.repository(user, repo).pull_request(data['number'])).as_dict()    

        if changes['commits'] == 1 and changes['changed_files'] == 1:
        #keep print to console statement for testing purposes
        #print changes['user']['login']


            with open('c:\\commit_filechange.csv', 'a+') as f:
                csv_writer = csv.writer(f)

                csv_writer.writerow([changes['user']['login'], changes['title'], changes['commits'], changes['changed_files']])

one_commit_one_file_change_pr()

Answer 1

Here is a solution which I believe is common practice. Set up a file called global_var.py (or something like it) and store global variables there. (See this post by @systemizer) Here is a simplified version of what will work with your code:

script1.py

if __name__=='__main__':
    user = raw_input('GitHub username: ')
    with open('global_var.py','w') as f:
        f.write("user = '%s'" % user)
password = 'blah'
gh = '<login(user, password)>'

script2.py

from script1 import gh
from global_var import user
print user
print gh

Answer 2

This answer is purely based on my assumption that you want get the user credentials only once and want to re-use it "n" number of times later in other scripts. Here is how I would do it ,

---

Update1

Your problem also has to do with how you want to organize and run your scripts, the below examples work if you have bundled your scripts in to python package and run them

For. eg

but if you are planning to run individual scripts separately , then you have no other option but to invoke the login prompt for each script unless you plan to completely remove asking for user credentials and use the pre-configured data from a file.

script1

from github3 import login
USER_CREDS = None   # Store raw input credentials here ,not recomended
GIT_USERS = {}     # global dict to store multiple users with username as key

def getCredentials():
    global USER_CREDS
    if USER_CREDS:
        print "returning user credentials"
        return USER_CREDS
    print "gettting user credentials"
    user = raw_input("Enter Username")
    pwd = raw_input("Enter Password")

    USER_CREDS = (user, pwd)

    return USER_CREDS


def do_login():
    global GIT_USERS
    user, pwd = getCredentials()
    if not GIT_USERS.get(user, None):
        gh = login(user, password=pwd)
        GIT_USERS[user] = gh
    return GIT_USERS[user]

in other scripts

from script1 import do_login

# the first time do_login() is called it asks for user credentials
print do_login()
# the next times it just returns the previously collected one
print do_login()

Example 2

script 3

from script1 import do_login
creds = do_login()  

script 4

from script3 import creds
from script1 import do_login
print creds
print do_login() # No input prompt would be provided