How to call a variable from one function inside another function?

Question

I have one function load

  def load():
        file = open((input("File name: ")), "r")
        movies_list = file.readlines()
        movies_list = [movie.strip() for movie in movies_list]
        file.close()

And I want to use the list movies_list in another function randomSelection

def randomSelection():
         print(random.choice(movies_list))

How can I get around this? Is there a way to declare movies_list as a global variable?

Why not return `movies_list` from `load` and pass to `randomSelection`? — Muhammad Tahir, Apr 25 '16 at 08:51
Take a look to this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/423379/using-global-variables-in-a-function-other-than-the-one-that-created-them — Nestoraj, Apr 25 '16 at 08:52

score 8 · Answer 1 · 2016-04-25T09:03:22.197

8

Return movies_list and pass it as an argument to randomSelection.

def load():
    with open((input("File name: ")), "r") as file:
        movies_list = file.readlines()
        movies_list = [movie.strip() for movie in movies_list]
    return movies_list

def randomSelection(movies_list):
     print(random.choice(movies_list))

movies_list = load()
randomSelection(movies_list)

edited Apr 25 '16 at 09:03

answered Apr 25 '16 at 08:52

This would return an error when load() function is executed. check the code – Mani Apr 25 '16 at 08:57
Which error? What do you mean? – Apr 25 '16 at 08:58
1

remove the colon(:) while executing load() function – Mani Apr 25 '16 at 09:01
@ManiKandan OK, thanks. – Apr 25 '16 at 09:03

Mani · Answer 2 · 2016-04-25T09:02:56.947

You can either return the movies_list and pass as arg to another function (or) use global variable

You can define a movie_list as a global variable as follows:

def load():
        file = open((input("File name: ")), "r")
        global movies_list
        movies_list = file.readlines()
        movies_list = [movie.strip() for movie in movies_list]
        file.close()

Then you can use the movies_list after the load() function is executed

load()
def randomSelection():
         print(random.choice(movies_list))

EbraHim · Answer 3 · 2016-04-25T08:59:27.087

0

Other answers are okay. Another option is defining your methods inside a class and using instance variable for sharing data between them:

class Test():
    def __init__(self):
        self.movie_list = "Empty"

    def f1(self):
        self.movie_list = "God_Father"

    def f2(self):
        print self.movie_list


test = Test()
test.f2()
test.f1()
test.f2()

Output:

>>> ================================ RESTART ================================
>>> 
Empty
God_Father
>>>

edited Apr 25 '16 at 08:59

answered Apr 25 '16 at 08:58

EbraHim

2,279
2
16
28

Sounds like overkill. – Apr 25 '16 at 08:58
@DisplayName OOP is preferred I guess. No? – EbraHim Apr 25 '16 at 08:59
Why do you think so? Python is a multi paradigm language: procedural, functionla, OO. – Apr 25 '16 at 09:00

How to call a variable from one function inside another function?

3 Answers3