CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-2.7dictionary
Liondancer
Liondancer

Reputation: 16469

passing dictionaries to other functions

I've got a main function in my python code and several other functions. In my main, I've accessed another function that creates a dictionary. At the end of my python code is an if statement that writes text into a text file. I'm having trouble figuring out how to access the dictionary created from the previous functions.

Here is a model of how my code currently works

    def main:
       # "does something"
       call function X
       # does other stuff

    def X:
       #create dictionary
       dict = {'item1': 1,'item2': 2}
       return dictionary

    ....
    .... # other functions
    ....

    if __name__ == "__main__":
       # here is where I want to write into my text file
       f = open('test.txt','w+')
       main()
       f.write('line 1: ' + dict[item1]) 
       f.write('line 2: ' + dict[item2])
       f.close()

I'm just starting to learn python so any help is much appreciated! Thank you!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 108

Answers (1)

TerryA
TerryA

Reputation: 59984

You have to add parentheses () when defining functions, even if it does not take any arguments:

def main():
    ...

def X():
    ...

Also, because X() returns something, you have to assign the output to a variable. So you can do something like this in main:

def main():
    mydict = X()
    # You now have access to the dictionary you created in X

You can then return mydict if you want in main(), so you can use it at the end of your script:

if __name__ == "__main__":
   f = open('test.txt','w+')
   output = main() # Notice how we assign the returned item to a variable
   f.write('line 1: ' + output[item1]) # We refer to the dictionary we just created.
   f.write('line 2: ' + output[item2]) # Same here
   f.close()

You can not define a variable in a function and then use it elsewhere outside of the function. The variable will only be defined in the local scope of the relative function. Thus, returning it is a good idea.

By the way, it's never a good idea to name a dictionary dict. It will override the built-in.

Upvotes: 2

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