I have a list of items in python something like this: input:
a=['nt','mt','pt']
I want to make each item in the above list as a variable and then assign that variable to a regex involving that variable.
output: I want something like this:
nt=re.compile("%s=[a-z]+&" %nt)
mt=re.compile("%s=[a-z]+&" %mt)
pt=re.compile("%s=[a-z]+&" %pt)
how do i go about doing this ??? Thanks. [sorry didn't pose the question in the best way possible ]
Keep data out of your variable names. Don't use variables, use a dictionary:
d = {name: re.compile("%s=[a-z]+&" % name) for name in a}
d = dict((name, re.compile("%s=[a-z]+&" % name) for name in a)
d["nt"] etc.Unquestionably best to use dictionary keys, not variables. But FYI in Python variables are actually stored in a dictionary anyway, which you can access by calling vars() or locals(). That means it is possible to create variables dynamically just by assigning to this dictionary, e.g.:
>>> new_var_name = 'my_var'
>>> vars()[new_var_name] = "I'm your new variable!"
>>> print my_var
"I'm your new variable!"
To be honest I don't know how tampering with vars() could ever be justifiable. But it's interesting, at least. Anyway, use Sven Marnach's answer.
vars() or locals() is not allowed. You can only change the dictionary returned by globals(). Your code only works because you executed it at global scope, it would not work inside a function.