Question

I have a problem similar to the first problem in this question, which as far as I can see went unanswered.

I have a file “config.py” which contains a lot of parameters to be used by a class (this config.py file will change), however I can’t get these to propagate into the class via execfile.

In an example piece of code:

class Class():
    def __init__(self):
        execfile("config.py")
        print x

# config.py
x = "foo"

>>> t = Class()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<stdin>", line 4, in __init__
NameError: global name 'x' is not defined

Any help welcome, or any better methods of retrieving parameters from a file to be used in a class.

Many Thanks.

Answer 1

I don’t get what you’re trying to do (but i don’t like it, and this is just me) but to fix your problem do (test in python2.6):

class Class():
    def __init__(self):
        execfile('config.py', locals())  # Not recommanded, maybe you want globals().
        print x

But from the doc:

Note

The default locals act as described
for function locals() below:
modifications to the default locals
dictionary should not be attempted.
Pass an explicit locals dictionary if
you need to see effects of the code on
locals after function execfile()
returns. execfile() cannot be used
reliably to modify a function’s
locals.

and about :

Any help welcome, or any better
methods of retrieving parameters from
a file to be used in a class.

You can use import.