Returning variables to use in other functions in python

Question

I am running into an issue with returning the month and day variables to use in other functions.

def date():
    date = raw_input("Date (ex. Jun 19): ")
    date = date.split(' ')
    month = date[0]
    month = month[:3].title()
    day = date[1]
    return (month, day)

def clone(month,day):
    print month day

Here is the output for the script:

Date (ex. Jun 19): june 19
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./manualVirt.py", line 26, in <module>
    main()
  File "./manualVirt.py", line 12, in main
    clone(agent,month,day)
NameError: global name 'month' is not defined

clone(agent,month,day) isn't in the code you have shown us. Is there more? — TerryA
– TerryA, Commented Jun 26, 2013 at 8:12
Haidro, sorry about the "agent" part. that is not a factor in this. I just didn't remove it from the text. — Greg
– Greg, Commented Jun 26, 2013 at 8:14
You should either use global variables, or wrap these functions together into a class. That, or feed one functions return values into the other. — Inbar Rose
– Inbar Rose, Commented Jun 26, 2013 at 8:15

Henrik Andersson · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-26 08:17:57Z

1

Since you're returning a tuple from date() I will be assuming that this would be the thing you want to do

month_day = date()
clone(month_day[0], month_day[1])

And also the following line in clone()

print month day

should be

print month, day

answered Jun 26, 2013 at 8:17

Henrik Andersson

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Comments

oleg · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-26 08:19:52Z

1

Is it possible that You want to pass result of one function into another ?

month, day = date()
clone(month, day)

or You can unpack function result during passing it into second one

result = date()
clone(*result)

or even

clone(*date())

answered Jun 26, 2013 at 8:19

oleg

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1 Comment

Inbar Rose Over a year ago

Don't you mean month, day = date() ?

TerryA · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-26 08:13:41Z

0

You're probably wondering how to use a variable in the global space when it is declared in a local space. use global:

def myfunc():
    global a
    a = 5

print a
# NameError: name 'a' is not defined
myfunc()
print a
# 5

answered Jun 26, 2013 at 8:13

TerryA

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3 Comments

Some programmer dude Over a year ago

@GregRobertDutertre Global variables should normally be avoided as much as possible.

Inbar Rose Over a year ago

@JoachimPileborg That is no reason that this answer is incorrect.

TerryA Over a year ago

@JoachimPileborg I do hope you mean the global statement ;). But anyway, in this circumstance surely there is no harm.

anana · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-26 08:15:08Z

0

I think the problem comes from here: print month day.

You need to separate the arguments by commas if you want to print multiple things:

print month, day

answered Jun 26, 2013 at 8:15

anana

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4 Comments

TerryA Over a year ago

The error is a NameError, not a SyntaxError, so this is probably some error in formatting the question

Inbar Rose Over a year ago

@Haidro no, you can do print X, Y in Python 2 just like you can do print(X,Y) in Python 3.

TerryA Over a year ago

@InbarRose arg, sorry, I meant in my comment "That would otherwise raise a SyntaxError, not a NameError

Inbar Rose Over a year ago

@Haidro undoubtedly, this is not the correct solution, but I was just commenting that what your statement appeared to be was incorrect.

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