Globally override built-in print function?

[Robert Kern]

On 2010-04-15 21:17 PM, Dave W. wrote:
>>> I naively thought I could capture output from exec()'ed print
>>> invocations by (somehow) overriding 'print' globally.  But this
>>> seems not to be possible.<snip>
>
>>
>>     old_print = __builtins__.print
>>     __builtins__.print = printhook
>>     yield
>>     __builtins__.print = old_print
>
> I'm pretty sure this is semantically equivalent to my original code,
> but I gave it a try anyway.

Not at all. Declaring "global print" then assigning to "print" simply changes 
what the module's "print" variable refers to. Other modules are unaffected. 
"Global" variables aren't truly global; they are actually local to the module. 
You need to replace it in the __builtins__ because that's where everyone else 
gets it.

> FWIW, it doesn't work, either. :-}

Right. Lie answered why. I didn't pay attention and thought you were already 
using Python 3.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco