Dynamically Set Local Variable

Dynamically set local variable

Contrary to other answers already posted you cannot modify locals() directly and expect it to work.

>>> def foo():
    lcl = locals()
    lcl['xyz'] = 42
    print(xyz)


>>> foo()

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#6>", line 1, in <module>
    foo()
  File "<pyshell#5>", line 4, in foo
    print(xyz)
NameError: global name 'xyz' is not defined

Modifying locals() is undefined. Outside a function when locals() and globals() are the same it will work; inside a function it will usually not work.

Use a dictionary, or set an attribute on an object:

d = {}
d['xyz'] = 42
print(d['xyz'])

or if you prefer, use a class:

class C: pass

obj = C()
setattr(obj, 'xyz', 42)
print(obj.xyz)

Edit:
Access to variables in namespaces that aren't functions (so modules, class definitions, instances) are usually done by dictionary lookups (as Sven points out in the comments there are exceptions, for example classes that define __slots__). Function locals can be optimised for speed because the compiler (usually) knows all the names in advance, so there isn't a dictionary until you call locals().

In the C implementation of Python locals() (called from inside a function) creates an ordinary dictionary initialised from the current values of the local variables. Within each function any number of calls to locals() will return the same dictionary, but every call to locals() will update it with the current values of the local variables. This can give the impression that assignment to elements of the dictionary are ignored (I originally wrote that this was the case). Modifications to existing keys within the dictionary returned from locals() therefore only last until the next call to locals() in the same scope.

In IronPython things work a bit differently. Any function that calls locals() inside it uses a dictionary for its local variables so assignments to local variables change the dictionary and assignments to the dictionary change the variables BUT that's only if you explicitly call locals() under that name. If you bind a different name to the locals function in IronPython then calling it gives you the local variables for the scope where the name was bound and there's no way to access the function locals through it:

>>> def foo():
...     abc = 123
...     lcl = zzz()
...     lcl['abc'] = 456
...     deF = 789
...     print(abc)
...     print(zzz())
...     print(lcl)
...
>>> zzz =locals
>>> foo()
123
{'__doc__': None, '__builtins__': <module '__builtin__' (built-in)>, 'zzz': <built-in function locals>, 'foo': <function foo at 0x000000000000002B>, '__name__': '__main__', 'abc': 456}
{'__doc__': None, '__builtins__': <module '__builtin__' (built-in)>, 'zzz': <built-in function locals>, 'foo': <function foo at 0x000000000000002B>, '__name__': '__main__', 'abc': 456}
>>>

This could all change at any time. The only thing guaranteed is that you cannot depend on the results of assigning to the dictionary returned by locals().

How to dynamically create a local variable?

You cannot dynamically create local variables in Ruby 1.9+ (you could in Ruby 1.8 via eval):

eval 'foo = "bar"'
foo  # NameError: undefined local variable or method `foo' for main:Object

They can be used within the eval-ed code itself, though:

eval 'foo = "bar"; foo + "baz"'
#=> "barbaz"

Ruby 2.1 added local_variable_set, but that cannot create new local variables either:

binding.local_variable_set :foo, 'bar'
foo # NameError: undefined local variable or method `foo' for main:Object

This behavior cannot be changed without modifying Ruby itself. The alternative is to instead consider storing your data within another data structure, e.g. a Hash, instead of many local variables:

hash = {}
hash[:my_var] = :foo

---

Note that both eval and local_variable_set do allow reassigning an existing local variable:

foo = nil
eval 'foo = "bar"'
foo  #=> "bar"
binding.local_variable_set :foo, 'baz'
foo  #=> "baz"

How to dynamically create local and global variables?

You cannot define a local variable with a full stop (.) character in ruby. That is not valid syntax.

(eval):2: unexpected fraction part after numeric literal
string_1.0 = "1.0"

Additionally, you cannot dynamically define local variables. There are various workarounds to sort-of achieve this, however, fundamentally I think you are asking an XY problem.

For example, have you considered using an OpenStruct, or passing this hash as locales when rendering a template, or instead dynamically setting instance variables?

Is it possible to dynamically create local variables in Python?

If you really want to do this, you could use exec:

print 'iWantAVariableWithThisName' in locals()
junkVar = 'iWantAVariableWithThisName'
exec(junkVar + " = 1")
print 'iWantAVariableWithThisName' in locals()

Of course, anyone will tell you how dangerous and hackish using exec is, but then so will be any implementation of this "trickery."

Dynamically set local variables in Ruby

The problem here is that the block inside each_pair has a different scope. Any local variables assigned therein will only be accessible therein. For instance, this:

args = {}
args[:a] = 1
args[:b] = 2

args.each_pair do |k,v|
  key = k.to_s
  eval('key = v')
  eval('puts key')
end

puts a

Produces this:

1
2
undefined local variable or method `a' for main:Object (NameError)

In order to get around this, you could create a local hash, assign keys to this hash, and access them there, like so:

args = {}
args[:a] = 1
args[:b] = 2

localHash = {}
args.each_pair do |k,v|
  key = k.to_s
  localHash[key] = v
end

puts localHash['a']
puts localHash['b']

Of course, in this example, it's merely copying the original hash with strings for keys. I'm assuming that the actual use-case, though, is more complex.

To add a local variable value to a dynamic query result set

You can't reference a variable declared outside of a dynamic statement inside a dynamic statement. You need to add the declaration in the parameters and pass the value:

DECLARE @query  AS nvarchar(MAX),
        @purchaseDate AS date;
SET @purchaseDate = '20201223';
SET @query = 'SELECT Name,@purchaseDate FROM Fruits;'; 
EXEC sp_executesql @query, N'@purchaseDate date', @purchaseDate = @purchaseDate;

Angular 4: setting the local variable # dynamically

Despite the seeming resemblance between regular variables and #, multiple elements can be assigned to single local template reference variable:

<ul>
   <li *ngFor="let link of links" #linkRef></li>
</ul>

Which can be obtained with:

@ViewChildren('linkRef') linkRefs;

Dynamically set variables inside function

You need to use eval() function to correctly access local variable inside the function:

def run_test(**kwargs):
    print(locals())
    locals().update(kwargs)
    print(locals())
    print(eval("a"))


run_test(a=2, b=3)

Output:

{'kwargs': {'a': 2, 'b': 3}}
{'kwargs': {'a': 2, 'b': 3}, 'a': 2, 'b': 3}
2

---

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