If I have two functions, (one inside the other);
def test1():
def test2():
print("test2")
How do I call test2?
3 Answers
You can call it in this way too:
def test1():
text = "Foo is pretty"
print "Inside test1()"
def test2():
print "Inside test2()"
print "test2() -> ", text
return test2
test1()() # first way, prints "Foo is pretty"
test2 = test1() # second way
test2() # prints "Foo is pretty"
Let's see:
>>> Inside test1()
>>> Inside test2()
>>> test2() -> Foo is pretty
>>> Inside test1()
>>> Inside test2()
>>> test2() -> Foo is pretty
If you don't want to call the test2():
test1() # first way, prints "Inside test1()", but there's test2() as return value.
>>> Inside test1()
print test1()
>>> <function test2 at 0x1202c80>
Let's get more hard:
def test1():
print "Inside test1()"
def test2():
print "Inside test2()"
def test3():
print "Inside test3()"
return "Foo is pretty."
return test3
return test2
print test1()()() # first way, prints the return string "Foo is pretty."
test2 = test1() # second way
test3 = test2()
print test3() # prints "Foo is pretty."
Let's see:
>>> Inside test1()
>>> Inside test2()
>>> Inside test3()
>>> Foo is pretty.
>>> Inside test1()
>>> Inside test2()
>>> Inside test3()
>>> Foo is pretty.
Comments
def test1():
def test2():
print "Here!"
test2() #You need to call the function the usual way
test1() #Prints "Here!"
Note that the test2 function is not available outside of test1. If, for instance, you tried to call test2() later in your code, you would get an error.
4 Comments
Zach Gates
What if I have more than one function inside
test1?
Gordon Gustafson
@zachgates They can still only be called inside test1.
sredmond
Any functions defined inside of test1 will only be available inside of test1. If you want to use the function later, you need to define it outside of test1
BrenBarn
@sredmond: Or return it from
test1.You can't, since test2 stops existing once test1() has returned. Either return it from the outer function or only ever call it from there.
answered Apr 20, 2014 at 22:17
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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1 Comment
BrenBarn
This is right if he means "how do I call
test2 from outside test1", but not if he's asking how to call it from inside test1. (The question isn't clear on this.)
test1, or from outside? As the two answers show, the answer is either "the obvious way" or "you can't".test2outsidetest1, you canreturnit like any other object - that's how decorators work.return test2? @jonrsharpe