Passing variable inside of function to a variable outside of function

Question

I am trying to set a new variable to reference a variable inside a function. My pseudo code goes like this:

def myfunction():
   a bunch of stuff that results in
   myvariable = "Some Text"

Further down the code I have this:

for something in somethinglist:
   if something == iteminsomethinglist:
       myfunction()
       mynewvariable1 = myvariable
   elif something == iteminsomethinglist:
       myfunction()
       mynewvariable2 = myvariable
   else:
       mynewvariable3 = myvariable

I keep getting an error message that says something like: name 'myvariable' is not defined

I guess I thought that if I called the function, it processes some stuff, I pass result into a variable and then reference that variable to a more unique variable, it would store it....but it's not.

Edit: I am attaching my code because it I wasn't clear enough in my first post. There is a variable within my function I wanted to reference outside of it (actually there are 2) I apologize for not making it clear enough. I though my original psuedo code proposed the question well enough. I also have a feeling that this might not be the best approach. Possible calling 2 functions would be more appropriate? My code is below:

def datetypedetector():

    rows = arcpy.SearchCursor(fc)

    dateList = []

    for row in rows:
        dateList.append(row.getValue("DATE_OBSERVATION").strftime('%m-%d-%Y'))

    del row, rows

    newList = sorted(list(set(dateList)))

    dates = [datetime.strptime(d, "%m-%d-%Y") for d in newList]

    date_ints = set([d.toordinal() for d in dates])

    if len(date_ints) == 1:
        DTYPE = "Single Date"
        #print "Single Date"
    elif max(date_ints) - min(date_ints) == len(date_ints) - 1:
        DTYPE = "Range of Dates"
        #print "Range of Dates"
    else:
        DTYPE = "Multiple Dates"
        #print "Multiple Dates"

    fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()

for fc in fcList:

    if fc == "SO_SOIL_P" or fc == "AS_ECOSITE_P":
        datetypedetector()
        ssDate = newList
        print fc + " = " + str(ssDate)
        ssDatetype = DTYPE
        print ssDatetype

    elif fc == "VE_WEED_P":
        datetypedetector()
        vwDate = newList
        print fc + " = " + str(vwDate)
        vwDatetype = DTYPE
        print vwDatetype

    else: 
        datetypedetector()
        vrDate = newList
        print fc + " = " + str(vrDate)
        vrDatetype = DTYPE
        print vrDatetype

@Pearsonartphoto No, his code shouldn't work. Why are you saying that? — Marcin
– Marcin, Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 19:17
@Marcin, please saty away from my post if you can't be constructive. — Mike
– Mike, Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 19:21
@Marcin - It seems to me that this is the perfect site to ask a question like this. See the What kind of questions can I ask here? section of the FAQ. — Andrew Clark
– Andrew Clark, Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 19:25
@Marcin - Just because it is trivial for you to find the answer doesn't mean that the OP didn't try. Regardless of what you may think it is perfectly acceptable for people to ask questions here before they have mastered tutorials for the language. — Andrew Clark
– Andrew Clark, Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 19:31

mechanical_meat · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-07 21:00:23Z

As written, myvariable is only defined within the scope of myfunction.
To make the value in that variable available outside of the function you can return it from the function:

def myfunction():
    myvariable = "Some Text"
    return myvariable

And then use it later like this:

for something in somethinglist:
    if something == iteminsomethinglist:
        mynewvariable1 = myfunction()

Edit: new information added to question.

Your indentation seems slightly off, but that may just be copy-paste trouble.
I think what you want to do is something like this:

Call the datetypedetector function taking fc as an argument.
Return DTYPE from that function for later use.

So first change the function signature to:

def datetypedetector(fc):
                     ^^

And the final statement in datetypedetector to:

    return DTYPE

And then pass fc as an argument when you call it, and the final step is to get the DTYPE back from the function by assigning to it datetypedetector's return value.

for fc in fcList:
    if fc == "SO_SOIL_P" or fc == "AS_ECOSITE_P":
        DTYPE = datetypedetector(fc)
        ...

Glad we could put you on the right track. Best of luck w/ the project.

PearsonArtPhoto · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-07 19:20:36Z

1

A much better way to organize the code would be to do something like this:

def myfunction():
   return "Some Text"

for something in somethinglist:
   if something == iteminsomethinglist:
       mynewvariable1 = myfunction()
   elif something == iteminsomethinglist:
       mynewvariable2 = myfunction()
   else:
       mynewvariable3 = myfunction()

answered Mar 7, 2012 at 19:20

PearsonArtPhoto

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1 Comment

Mike Over a year ago

Thank you for the added value Pearsonartphoto!

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