[Tutor] List's name in a string

[Jeff Shannon]

Héctor Villafuerte D. wrote:
> Hi!
> is there a way to get a list's (or any variable) name in a string?
> 
> For example:
>  >>> list1 = [1, 2, 3]
> I would like to do something like this:
>  >>> var = list1.name()
> So that  var  contains  'list1'.

You can sortof force it by going through locals() and globals(), but a 
better approach would probably be to look again at *why* you want this.

Most of the time, if you need to refer to some variable name 
programmatically like this, what you're really looking for is a list 
or a dictionary.  In other words, you typically want to refer to 
variables by a variable name so that you can select one object from a 
set of possible objects based on some runtime parameter.  That's 
exactly the niche that dictionaries fit.  For example,

 >>> data = {}
 >>> data['list1'] = [1, 2, 3]
 >>> data['list2'] = [4, 5, 6]
 >>> data
{'list1': [1, 2, 3], 'list2': [4, 5, 6]}
 >>> key = 'list1'
 >>> data[key]
[1, 2, 3]
 >>>

Maybe if you explain a bit more about your intent, we can explore an 
easier way to accomplish your goal than mucking about in the 
interpreter's innards.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International