Given a string input, how to check if a variable with the same name exists

Question

x = [1,2,3]
y = [5,6,7]
z = input("Enter which variable to use x or y: ")

now I want use the variable x or y depending on whether the input is "x" or "y"

Does this answer your question? [How do I create variable variables?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1373164/how-do-i-create-variable-variables) — Tomerikoo, Nov 03 '20 at 12:05

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 03 '20 at 11:56

Please, please, please, please, please don't use runtime variable reading. Instead, just use a dict:

lists = {
    "x": [1, 2, 3],
    "y": [5, 6, 7]
}
z = input("Enter which variable to use x or y: ").strip()
print("Your variable is: " + str(lists[z]))

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 03 '20 at 11:59

1

You can use locals() if you really need it's very very unsafe.

x = [1,2,3]
y = [5,6,7]
z = input("Enter which variable to use x or y: ")
locals().get(z)

answered Nov 03 '20 at 11:59

Equinox

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this is awesome , though this was not my question but happy to know locals() – Vivs Nov 03 '20 at 12:04

Given a string input, how to check if a variable with the same name exists

2 Answers2