Python: Passing variables between functions

Question

I\'ve spent the past few hours reading around in here and elsewhere, as well as experimenting, but I\'m not really understanding what I am sure is a very basic concept: pass

Answer 1

Read up the concept of a name space. When you assign a variable in a function, you only assign it in the namespace of this function. But clearly you want to use it between all functions.

def defineAList():
    #list = ['1','2','3'] this creates a new list, named list in the current namespace.
    #same name, different list!

    list.extend['1', '2', '3', '4'] #this uses a method of the existing list, which is in an outer namespace
    print "For checking purposes: in defineAList, list is",list
    return list

Alternatively, you can pass it around:

def main():
    new_list = defineAList()
    useTheList(new_list)