local variable 'counter' referenced before assignment

Question

I am running the below code and getting this error.

I am used to c# syntax but this doesn't make any sense

The rest of the code is working i have tested. Only counter is the problem at the moment

import logging
from transformers import pipeline


counter = 1
#summarizer = pipeline("summarization", model="csebuetnlp/mT5_multilingual_XLSum")

f = open("TextFile1.txt", "r")

ARTICLE = f.read()

#print(summarizer(ARTICLE, max_length=900, do_sample=False))

summarizer = pipeline("summarization", model="facebook/bart-large-cnn")

def summarize_text(text: str, max_len: int) -> str:
    try:
        #logging.warning("max_len " + str(max_len))
        summary = summarizer(text, max_length=max_len, min_length=100, do_sample=False)
        with open('parsed_'+str(counter)+'.txt', 'w') as f:
            f.write(text)
        counter += 1
        return summary[0]["summary_text"]
    except IndexError as ex:
        logging.warning("Sequence length too large for model, cutting text in half and calling again")
        return summarize_text(text=text[:(len(text) // 2)], max_len=max_len) +" "+ summarize_text(text=text[(len(text) // 2):], max_len=max_len)

gg = summarize_text(ARTICLE, 1024)

with open('summarized.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write(gg)

[![enter code here][1]][1]

lmiguelvargasf · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-27T21:20:41.820

0

You are changing counter inside your function summarize_text and this is a global variable. By using global counter, you are stating that counter is a global variable, so when you change it, the interpreter knows you are changing the global variable and not a local variable to the function summarize_text called counter.

...
counter = 1
...

def summarize_text(text: str, max_len: int) -> str:
    global counter
    ...

Btw, It is not a good practice to use global variables because it will make your code very hard to debug.

edited Oct 27 '22 at 21:20

answered Oct 27 '22 at 21:07

lmiguelvargasf

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what you mean? yes i want to use global variable, increase it by 1 and use. how do i do that? I am using recursive method calls what else i could use? – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:08
@juanpa.arrivillaga what is the solution? – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:08
You need to use `global counter` to tell Python that counter is a global variable, so when you change `counter` it knows you are changing the global variable and not a local variable called `counter` – lmiguelvargasf Oct 27 '22 at 21:09
3

@MonsterMMORPG the solution **is in this answer**, and it is also in the linked duplicate above. BTW, you would have found many similar duplicates by just *googling the error message* – juanpa.arrivillaga Oct 27 '22 at 21:09
@juanpa.arrivillaga still not working : https://i.imgur.com/G8eaSVI.png any ideas? – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:15
lmiguelvargasf I tested your method and if i use that how do i set initial value? – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:16
you set it at the top of the code `counter = 1`, you just need to add that line, and it should work. – lmiguelvargasf Oct 27 '22 at 21:18
lmiguelvargasf please check these 2 : https://i.imgur.com/G8eaSVI.png https://i.imgur.com/hRHHZeW.png – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:19
@MonsterMMORPG, you should add that line inside the function not outside. – lmiguelvargasf Oct 27 '22 at 21:20
very weird logic but finally works ty. this is why I love c# :) – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:22
lmiguelvargasf how would you do it in this case without using global variable? it is a recursive function – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:30
@juanpa.arrivillaga the answer marked as answer in the duplicate doesn't explain anything – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:30
@MonsterMMORPG it explains *everything*, actually. It explains *why* the error occurs and the solution. – juanpa.arrivillaga Oct 27 '22 at 21:33
1

Anyway, to avoid global variables, generally you either 1) use arguments/return values 2) use a class to encapsulate state – juanpa.arrivillaga Oct 27 '22 at 21:34
@juanpa.arrivillaga the answer of lmiguelvargasf explains much better. those 2 method looks good solution in this case. – Furkan Gözükara Oct 27 '22 at 21:35

local variable 'counter' referenced before assignment

1 Answers1