Defining lists as global variables in Python

Question

I am using a list on which some functions works in my program. This is a shared list actually and all of my functions can edit it. Is it really necessary to define it as \"g

Answer 1

No, you can specify the list as a keyword argument to your function.

alist = []
def fn(alist=alist):
    alist.append(1)
fn()
print alist    # [1]

I'd say it's bad practice though. Kind of too hackish. If you really need to use a globally available singleton-like data structure, I'd use the module level variable approach, i.e. put 'alist' in a module and then in your other modules import that variable:

In file foomodule.py:

alist = []

In file barmodule.py:

import foomodule
def fn():
    foomodule.alist.append(1)
print foomodule.alist    # [1]

Answer 2

When you assign a variable (x = ...), you are creating a variable in the current scope (e.g. local to the current function). If it happens to shadow a variable fron an outer (e.g. global) scope, well too bad - Python doesn't care (and that's a good thing). So you can't do this:

x = 0
def f():
    x = 1
f()
print x #=>0

and expect 1. Instead, you need do declare that you intend to use the global x:

x = 0
def f():
    global x
    x = 1
f()
print x #=>1

But note that assignment of a variable is very different from method calls. You can always call methods on anything in scope - e.g. on variables that come from an outer (e.g. the global) scope because nothing local shadows them.

Also very important: Member assignment (x.name = ...), item assignment (collection[key] = ...), slice assignment (sliceable[start:end] = ...) and propably more are all method calls as well! And therefore you don't need global to change a global's members or call it methods (even when they mutate the object).

Answer 3

Yes, you need to use global foo if you are going to write to it.

foo = []

def bar():
    global foo
    ...
    foo = [1]