pytest fixture vs global variable

Question

I know that when multiple tests use the same variable, it should be defined as a fixture, so that it gets initialized once, and can be re-used.

What I don't understand, however, is what advantage it offers (apart from looking cleaner) over a simple global variable, that also gets initialized once, and is accessible to all tests as well.

Answer 1

Fixtures are meant to avoid using global variables in the first place, they are meant to provide resources to test functions that are isolated and particular for each test.

I think that best to understand it is using the functionality "scope" that fixture provide