Question

Quick, newbie Python scoping question. How can I make sure that the original variables get changed in the for-loop below?

for name in [name_level_1, name_level_2, name_level_3, name_level_4]:
     name = util.translate("iw", "en", name.encode('utf-8'))
print name_level_1

In other words, I want the print statement to print out the changed variable, not the original. Python doesn’t have pointers, right?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Python has references and objects instead of pointers (from a conceptual level).

What you want to do is assign the new value of name_level_1 to some name that exists after the loop.

So, either unwrap the loop and use each name where you need it, e.g.

name_level_1_translated = util.translate("iw", "en", name_level_1.encode('utf-8'))
print name_level_1_translated

name_level_2_translated = util.translate("iw", "en", name_level_2.encode('utf-8'))
do_stuff(name_level_2_translated)

or, if you’re going to use each name the same way, just create a list and use that everywhere.

names = [name_level_1, name_level_2, name_level_3, name_level_4]
translated_names = [util.translate("iw", "en", name.encode('utf-8')) for name in names]
for name in translated_names:
    print name

You can also access them by index:

print names[0]