Namespaces

A function's parameters, plus any variables that are bound (by assignment or by other binding statements, such as def) in the function body, make up the function's local namespace, also known as local scope. Each of these variables is known as a local variable of the function.

Variables that are not local are known as global variables (in the absence of nested function definitions, which we'll discuss shortly). Global variables are attributes of the module object, as covered in "Attributes of module objects" on page 140. Whenever a function's local variable has the same name as a global variable, that name, within the function body, refers to the local variable, not the global one. We express this by saying that the local variable hides the global variable of the same name throughout the function body.

The global statement

By default, any variable that is bound within a function body is a local variable of the function. If a function needs to rebind some global variables, the first
statement of the function must be:

  global identifiers

where identifiers  is one or more identifiers separated by commas (,). The identifiers listed in a global statement refer to the global variables (i.e., attributes of the module object) that the function needs to rebind. For example, the function counter that we saw in "Other attributes of function objects" on page 73 could be implemented using global and a global variable, rather than an attribute of the function object:

  _count = 0
  def counter():
      global _count
      _count += 1
      return _count

Without the global statement, the counter function would raise an UnboundLocal-Error exception because _count would then be an uninitialized (unbound) local variable. While the global statement enables this kind of programming, this style is often inelegant and unadvisable. As I mentioned earlier, when you want to group together some state and some behavior, the object-oriented mechanisms covered in Chapter 5 are usually best.

Don't use global if the function body just uses a global variable (including mutating the object bound to that variable if the object is mutable). Use a global statement only if the function body rebinds a global variable (generally by assigning to the variable's name). As a matter of style, don't use global unless it's strictly necessary, as its presence will cause readers of your program to assume the statement is there for some useful purpose. In particular, never use global except as the first statement in a function body.