Using global variables in a function

You can use a global variable within other functions by declaring it as global within each function that assigns a value to it:

globvar = 0

def set_globvar_to_one():
    global globvar    # Needed to modify global copy of globvar
    globvar = 1

def print_globvar():
    print(globvar)     # No need for global declaration to read value of globvar

set_globvar_to_one()
print_globvar()       # Prints 1

Since it's unclear whether globvar = 1 is creating a local variable or changing a global variable, Python defaults to creating a local variable, and makes you explicitly choose the other behavior with the global keyword.

See other answers if you want to share a global variable across modules.

If I'm understanding your situation correctly, what you're seeing is the result of how Python handles local (function) and global (module) namespaces.

Say you've got a module like this:

# sample.py
_my_global = 5

def func1():
    _my_global = 42

def func2():
    print _my_global

func1()
func2()

You might expecting this to print 42, but instead it prints 5. As has already been mentioned, if you add a 'global' declaration to func1(), then func2() will print 42.

def func1():
    global _my_global 
    _my_global = 42

What's going on here is that Python assumes that any name that is assigned to, anywhere within a function, is local to that function unless explicitly told otherwise. If it is only reading from a name, and the name doesn't exist locally, it will try to look up the name in any containing scopes (e.g. the module's global scope).

When you assign 42 to the name _my_global, therefore, Python creates a local variable that shadows the global variable of the same name. That local goes out of scope and is garbage-collected when func1() returns; meanwhile, func2() can never see anything other than the (unmodified) global name. Note that this namespace decision happens at compile time, not at runtime -- if you were to read the value of _my_global inside func1() before you assign to it, you'd get an UnboundLocalError, because Python has already decided that it must be a local variable but it has not had any value associated with it yet. But by using the 'global' statement, you tell Python that it should look elsewhere for the name instead of assigning to it locally.

(I believe that this behavior originated largely through an optimization of local namespaces -- without this behavior, Python's VM would need to perform at least three name lookups each time a new name is assigned to inside a function (to ensure that the name didn't already exist at module/builtin level), which would significantly slow down a very common operation.)

You may want to explore the notion of namespaces. In Python, the module is the natural place for global data:

Each module has its own private symbol table, which is used as the global symbol table by all functions defined in the module. Thus, the author of a module can use global variables in the module without worrying about accidental clashes with a user’s global variables. On the other hand, if you know what you are doing you can touch a module’s global variables with the same notation used to refer to its functions, modname.itemname.

A specific use of global-in-a-module is described here - How do I share global variables across modules?, and for completeness the contents are shared here:

The canonical way to share information across modules within a single program is to create a special configuration module (often called config or cfg). Just import the configuration module in all modules of your application; the module then becomes available as a global name. Because there is only one instance of each module, any changes made to the module object get reflected everywhere. For example:

File: config.py

x = 0   # Default value of the 'x' configuration setting

File: mod.py

import config
config.x = 1

File: main.py

import config
import mod
print config.x

If you want to refer to a global variable in a function, you can use the global keyword to declare which variables are global. You don't have to use it in all cases (as someone here incorrectly claims) - if the name referenced in an expression cannot be found in local scope or scopes in the functions in which this function is defined, it is looked up among global variables.

However, if you assign to a new variable not declared as global in the function, it is implicitly declared as local, and it can overshadow any existing global variable with the same name.

Also, global variables are useful, contrary to some OOP zealots who claim otherwise - especially for smaller scripts, where OOP is overkill.

You're not actually storing the global in a local variable, just creating a local reference to the same object that your original global reference refers to. Remember that pretty much everything in Python is a name referring to an object, and nothing gets copied in usual operation.

If you didn't have to explicitly specify when an identifier was to refer to a predefined global, then you'd presumably have to explicitly specify when an identifier is a new local variable instead (for example, with something like the 'var' command seen in JavaScript). Since local variables are more common than global variables in any serious and non-trivial system, Python's system makes more sense in most cases.

You could have a language which attempted to guess, using a global variable if it existed or creating a local variable if it didn't. However, that would be very error-prone. For example, importing another module could inadvertently introduce a global variable by that name, changing the behaviour of your program.

Globals are fine - Except with Multiprocessing

Globals in connection with multiprocessing on different platforms/envrionments as Windows/Mac OS on the one side and Linux on the other are troublesome.

I will show you this with a simple example pointing out a problem which I run into some time ago.

If you want to understand, why things are different on Windows/MacOs and Linux you need to know that, the default mechanism to start a new process on ...

• Windows/MacOs is 'spawn'
• Linux is 'fork'

They are different in Memory allocation an initialisation ... (but I don't go into this here).

Let's have a look at the problem/example ...

import multiprocessing

counter = 0

def do(task_id):
    global counter
    counter +=1
    print(f'task {task_id}: counter = {counter}')

if __name__ == '__main__':

    pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=4)
    task_ids = list(range(4))
    pool.map(do, task_ids)

Windows

If you run this on Windows (And I suppose on MacOS too), you get the following output ...

task 0: counter = 1
task 1: counter = 2
task 2: counter = 3
task 3: counter = 4

Linux

If you run this on Linux, you get the following instead.

task 0: counter = 1
task 1: counter = 1
task 2: counter = 1
task 3: counter = 1

There are 2 ways to declare a variable as global:

1. assign variable inside functions and use global line

def declare_a_global_variable():
    global global_variable_1
    global_variable_1 = 1

# Note to use the function to global variables
declare_a_global_variable() 

2. assign variable outside functions:

global_variable_2 = 2

Now we can use these declared global variables in the other functions:

def declare_a_global_variable():
    global global_variable_1
    global_variable_1 = 1

# Note to use the function to global variables
declare_a_global_variable() 
global_variable_2 = 2

def print_variables():
    print(global_variable_1)
    print(global_variable_2)
print_variables() # prints 1 & 2

Note 1:

If you want to change a global variable inside another function like update_variables() you should use global line in that function before assigning the variable:

global_variable_1 = 1
global_variable_2 = 2

def update_variables():
    global global_variable_1
    global_variable_1 = 11
    global_variable_2 = 12 # will update just locally for this function

update_variables()
print(global_variable_1) # prints 11
print(global_variable_2) # prints 2

Note 2:

There is a exception for note 1 for list and dictionary variables while not using global line inside a function:

# declaring some global variables
variable = 'peter'
list_variable_1 = ['a','b']
list_variable_2 = ['c','d']

def update_global_variables():
    """without using global line"""
    variable = 'PETER' # won't update in global scope
    list_variable_1 = ['A','B'] # won't update in global scope
    list_variable_2[0] = 'C' # updated in global scope surprisingly this way
    list_variable_2[1] = 'D' # updated in global scope surprisingly this way

update_global_variables()

print('variable is: %s'%variable) # prints peter
print('list_variable_1 is: %s'%list_variable_1) # prints ['a', 'b']
print('list_variable_2 is: %s'%list_variable_2) # prints ['C', 'D']

Though this has been answered, I am giving solution again as I prefer single line This is if you wish to create global variable within function

def someFunc():
    x=20
    globals()['y']=50
someFunc() # invoking function so that variable Y is created globally 
print(y) # output 50
print(x) #NameError: name 'x' is not defined as x was defined locally within function

global_var = 10  # will be considered as a global variable


def func_1():
    global global_var  # access variable using variable keyword
    global_var += 1


def func_2():
    global global_var
    global_var *= 2
    print(f"func_2: {global_var}")


func_1()
func_2()
print("Global scope:", global_var) # will print 22

Explanation:

global_var is a global variable and all functions and classes can access that variable.

The func_1() accessed that global variable using the keyword global which points to the variable which is written in the global scope. If I didn't write the global keyword the variable global_var inside func_1 is considered a local variable that is only usable inside the function. Then inside func_1, I have incremented that global variable by 1.

The same happened in func_2().

After calling func_1 and func_2, you'll see the global_var is changed

Like this code:

myVar = 12

def myFunc():
  myVar += 12

Key:

If you declare a variable outside the strings, it become global.

If you declare a variable inside the strings, it become local.

If you want to declare a global variable inside the strings, use the keyword global before the variable you want to declare:

myVar = 124
def myFunc():
  global myVar2
  myVar2 = 100
myFunc()
print(myVar2)

and then you have 100 in the document.

Initialized = 0  #Here This Initialized is global variable  

def Initialize():
     print("Initialized!")
     Initialized = 1  #This is local variable and assigning 1 to local variable
while Initialized == 0:  

Here we are comparing global variable Initialized that 0, so while loop condition got true

     Initialize()

Function will get called.Loop will be infinite

#if we do Initialized=1 then loop will terminate  

else:
    print("Lets do something else now!")