Functions II

Accessing Global Variables in a Function

In this lesson, you'll learn about about the concept of global and local scopes, how to access and modify global variables inside a function, and how to use the global keyword in Python.

We have already learnt that variables store values for later use. To access the stored value, we just have to call a variable somewhere below in our code. For example:

text = 'Hello World'
print(text)

Python

We can even access that variable from within a function. Let's try it:

text = 'Hello World'
 
def my_function():
  print(text)
 
my_function()

Python

Output

However, the rules change slightly when we want to modify the variable inside the function.

Let's see what happens if we try to:

text = 'Hello World'
 
def my_function():
  text = 'Python'
 
my_function()
print(text)

Python

Output

Even after calling the function, the variable text still holds its original value.

It seems like nothing changed, even though we assigned a new value to text inside the function.

To understand what happened here, you need to know that we are dealing with two so-called scopes.

A scope describes a region of code from which you can access certain variables or functions.

When we first created the variable text, we were creating it in the global scope.

##### global scope #####
text = 'Hello World' # global variable
print(text)

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The global scope is the outermost scope in your program. Whenever you create a variable outside a function (or a class), you are defining a global variable within the global scope.

However, when you create a function, the code inside the function has its own scope, known as local scope.

#### global scope ####
...
 
def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  ...

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You can access all global variables inside the local scope of a function. For example:

#### global scope ####
my_num = 10
 
def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  print(my_num) # local variable
 
my_function()

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Output

However, when we create a variable inside the function, we're defining a so-called local variable that can only be accessed in the local scope of that function.

For example, here we create a local variable my_num inside the local scope of my_function. When we try to access that variable outside the function, we run into an error:

def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  my_num = 10 # local variable
 
#### global scope ####
my_function()
 
print(my_num)

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Output

Back to our original example and to why the value of text does not change:

text = 'Hello World'
 
def my_function():
  text = 'Python'
 
my_function()
print(text)

Python

Output

The reason is that we have actually created 2 versions of text: one in the global scope and another that exists only within the scope of my_function.

Here, you can see that the string Python is only assigned to the local version of text, while the global version remains unchanged before and after we call my_function:

#### global scope ####
text = 'Hello World'
print(f"Global scope: '{text}'")
 
def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  text = 'Python'
  print(f"Local scope: '{text}'")
 
#### global scope ####
my_function()
print(f"Global scope: '{text}'")

Python

Output

To tell Python that you want to modify a global variable inside a function instead of creating a new one with the same name, you can use the global keyword.

You can use the global keyword to declare a variable as global within a local scope:

def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  # declare my_var as global
  global my_var

Python

This allows my_var to be accessed and modified globally.

So, to modify the global variable text from our example, we need to declare it as global inside my_function:

#### global scope ####
text = 'Hello World'
print(f"Global scope: '{text}'")
 
def my_function():
  #### local scope ####
  # declare text as global:
  global text
  text = 'Python'
  print(f"Local scope: '{text}'")
 
#### global scope ####
my_function()
print(f"Global scope: '{text}'")

Python

Output

Now, we have successfully modified text from within the scope of my_function.

Using the global keyword, you can not only modify global variables from within local scopes, but also create new ones.

For example, in the code below, we create a new global variable inside my_function and access it outside the function's scope:

def my_function():
  global num
  num = 10
 
my_function()
print(num)

Python

Output

Be aware that the variable is only created when you call the function.

It will not work if you try to access num before calling my_function:

def my_function():
  global num
  num = 10
 
print(num)
my_function()

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Output

What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  quantity = 2
  print(price * quantity)
 
func()

Python

What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  quantity = 2
 
func()
print(price * quantity)

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What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  price = 5
  print(price)
 
func()
print(price)

Python

What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  price = 5
  print(price)
 
print(price)
func()

Python

What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  price = 5
 
print(price)
func()
print(price)

Python

What will be the output?

price = 10
def func():
  global price
  price = 5
 
print(price)
func()
print(price)

Python