Name Error when passing a parameter?

Question

I am writing a program and keep on getting trouble with the error:

   File "C:/Users//Documents///", line 47, in                      <module>
print(operations(sorted_list_desc))
NameError: name 'sorted_list_desc' is not defined

Even though you can not see the file I am working with, I have provided my code. I am supposed to loop the years and randomly choose an operator for each of the years. However, I keep on getting the error above. Any ideas why I keep on getting it?

import csv

#List to store different operators
list_operators = ["+","-","*","/"]


#Function to read file of list
def read_file():

#List to store data
    sorted_list_desc = []

 year = csv_file.readline()
    population = csv_file.readline()


    return sorted_list_desc

     print(read_file())

def operations(sorted_list_desc):
    for i in range(len(sorted_list_desc)):
        operator = random.choice(list_operator)
    return operator
print(operations(sorted_list_desc))
##

Can you include your full code? Where do you call `print(operations(sorted_list_desc))`? — miradulo, Apr 18 '16 at 19:50

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 18 '16 at 19:55

1

sorted_list_desc is generated by read_file(). Change your last line to:

print(operations(read_file()))

The line:

print(read_file())

does not magically created a global object withe name sorted_list_desc. You need to hand it over explicitly to operations().

Alternatively, you could write:

sorted_list_desc = read_file()
print(operations(sorted_list_desc))

answered Apr 18 '16 at 19:55

Mike Müller

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Thank You!! helped – pythonslittlehelper Apr 18 '16 at 20:07

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

1

You have only assigned sorted_list_desc inside your function read_file(). Thus, your error is telling you that sorted_list_desc is not assigned to anything outside your function's scope. See Python scoping rules, and notice that you don't even need to pass sorted_list_desc as a parameter because it is assigned inside your function anyways.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

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answered Apr 18 '16 at 19:56

miradulo

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 18 '16 at 20:00

Looks like sorted_list_desc is defined within the scope of your read_file() function and thus you can't reference it outside of that function. You can call print(operations(sorted_list_desc)) within 'read_file()', or you can define sorted_list_desc = [] at a global scope.

Name Error when passing a parameter?

3 Answers3