cannot pass a variable from a function

[Grégoire Dooms]

If I understand well what you need:
 >>> def f(a):
	global q
	q = a * 80
	print q

 >>> def g(l):
	global q
	for i in l:
		q = i * 80

		
 >>> q

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<pyshell#18>", line 1, in -toplevel-
     q
NameError: name 'q' is not defined
 >>> f(5)
400
 >>> q
400
 >>> g([1,2,3])
 >>> q
240
 >>>


However using global variables is a bad habit and you should restrain 
from doing it. Why not pass q to every of these functions and have them 
return the new value of q ?

--
Grégoire Dooms

Doug Jordan wrote:
> I am fairly new to Python.  This should be an easy answer but I cannot get
> this to work.  The code is listed below.  I know how to do this in C,
> Fortran, and VB but it doesn't seem to work the same way here.
> I would appreciate any help.
> 
> #try this to pass a list to a function and have the function return
> #a variable
> #this works
> list=[1,4,6,9]
> def fctn(c):
>     for h in c:
>         q=h*80
>         print q
> #function suppose to return variable
> def fctn2(c):
>     for h in c:
>         q=h*80
>         return q
> def prntfctn(y):
>     for j in y:
>         print j
> fctn(list)
> fctn2(list)
> prntfctn(q)
> 
> I need to be able to return variables from functions so they can be used
> globally in the rest of the program I am writing.
> Thanks
> 
> Doug
> 
>