Python conditional assignment operator

Question

Does a Python equivalent to the Ruby ||= operator (\"set the variable if the variable is not set\") exist?

Example in Ruby :

 variable_n         


        

Answer 1

(can't comment or I would just do that) I believe the suggestion to check locals above is not quite right. It should be:

foo = foo if 'foo' in locals() or 'foo' in globals() else 'default'

to be correct in all contexts.

However, despite its upvotes, I don't think even that is a good analog to the Ruby operator. Since the Ruby operator allows more than just a simple name on the left:

foo[12] ||= something
foo.bar ||= something

The exception method is probably closest analog.