Get locals from calling namespace in Python

Question

I want to retrieve the local variables from Python from a called function. Is there any way to do this? I realize this isn\'t right for most programming, but I am basically

Answer 1

You use the python builtin, dir() or vars():

vars(object)

For examples using dir(), see: this post

Examples using vars:

>>> class X:
...     a=1
...     def __init__(self):
...         b=2
... 
>>> 
>>> vars(X)
{'a': 1, '__module__': '__main__', '__doc__': None, '__init__': }
>>> 
>>> vars(X())
{}

A potentially problematic fact: New style classes not return the same result

>>> class X(object):
...     a=1
...     def __init__(self):
...         b=2
... 
>>> 
>>> vars(X)

>>> vars(X())
{}

Also: for an instantiated class (new and old style), if you add a variable after instantiating, vars will return the object's dict like this:

>>> x = X() 
>>> x.c = 1
>>> vars(x)
{'c': 1}
>>> 

See: http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#vars