Global Variable appearing as local variable

Question

I have the following global dictionary

global configurationFileInfo_saved
configurationFileInfo_saved = {
        'True_key': 'True',
        'False_key': 'False',
        'filename': "Configuration-noMeta" + extnt,
        'os_key': "os",
        'os': "windows",
        'os_windowsCode': "windows",
        'os_linuxCode': "linux",
        'guiEnabled': 'True',
        'guiEn_key': "GUI",
        'allowCustom': 'True',
        'allowCustom_key': "allowCustomQuizConfiguration",
        'allOrPart': "a",
        'allOrPart_key': "questions_partOrAll",
        'allOrPart_allCode': "a",
        'allOrPart_partCode': "p",
        'questionAmountDivisionFactor': 2,
        'questionAmountDivisionFactor_key': "divisionFactor",
        'mode': "e",
        'mode_key': "mode",
        'mode_noDeduction_code': "noDeductions",
        'mode_allowDeductions_code': "allowDeductions",
        'deductionsPerIncorrect': 1,
        'deductionsPerIncorrect_key': "allowDeductions_pointDeduction_perIncorrectResponse",
        'loc': "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Quizzing Application <Version>\\Admin\\Application Files\\dist\\Main\\",
        'loc_key': "location",
        'title': "Quizzing Appliaction <Version> -- By Geetansh Gautam",
        'title_key': "title"

This is where the dictionary is being accessed:

config_onBoot_keys = list(configSaved(True, False, None).keys()) config_onBoot_vals = list(configSaved(True, False, None).values())

configSaved(False, True, configurationFileInfo)

configSaved (Tempoarary function for reading andd writing):

def configSaved(get, save, saveDict):
    if get:
        return configurationFileInfo_saved
    elif save:
        configurationFileInfo_saved = saveDict

When I access the dictionary is a function later I get the following error:

UnboundLocalError: local variable 'configurationFileInfo_saved' referenced before assignment

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

This is because we can only access the global variable inside the function but for modification you have to use the global keyword inside the function.

For example, this will not give the localbound error:

x = 1 # global variable

def example():
    print(x)
example()

and this will give the error:

For example:

x = 1 # global variable

def example():
    x = x + 2 # increment x by 2
    print(c)
example()

To avoid this error:

x = 0 # global variable

def example():
    global x
    x = x + 2 # increment by 2
    print("Inside add():", x)

example()
print("In main:", x)

Now the answer to the question:

configurationFileInfo_saved = {...}

def configSaved(get, save, saveDict):
    global configurationFileInfo_saved
    if get:
        return configurationFileInfo_saved
    elif save:
        configurationFileInfo_saved = saveDict