List all variables used in a python script

Question

I have a long python script which I would like to partly export to smaller scripts. Is there a way to gather all variables which are used in the specific part of the script? I don't want to define all the variables that are not used for the script. Example:

var1 = "folder"
var2 = "something else"
var3 = "another thing"

#part of the script I would like to use seperatly
dosomething(var1,var2)
#end of the part

dosomethingelse(var3)

Is there a way to list var1 and var2 as a part of my script, but not var3 as I won't need it for my new subset script?

Problem is: what if var1 depends on var3, for instance var1 = var3+'foo'. — willeM_ Van Onsem
– willeM_ Van Onsem, Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 11:14
See the top answer here. It's not exactly what you are looking for, but might be a good pointer. stackoverflow.com/questions/33554036/… — Nir Levy
– Nir Levy, Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 11:22

user2682863 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-01 13:57:27Z

7

You can use the locals() function to determine what variables have been declared in the namespace.. ie

a = 1
b = 2
print(locals().keys())
c = 3
d = 4
print(locals().keys())

Output

['a', 'b', 'builtins', 'file', 'package', 'name', 'doc']

['a', 'c', 'b', 'd', 'builtins', 'file', 'package', 'name', 'doc']

answered Mar 1, 2017 at 13:57

user2682863

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4 Comments

Nir Levy Over a year ago

just remember that this is a runtime solution. It means that if there is a variable that only gets defined inside, for example, an if block that did not get run in this specific run you would not get the name of this variable printed.

Alex Over a year ago

My example script is quite simple. So locals() might work out. However, if there are several variables before the part of the script it is getting more difficult. And Nir Levy ha a good point, too.

user2682863 Over a year ago

agreed, its a 70% solution. For a comprehensive solution you can look at ast as others have mentioned. Personally I would just copy the code to a new module and let PyCharm tell me which variables I need

user2682863 Over a year ago

It highlights variables that haven't been defined

theashwanisingla · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-10 12:23:48Z

2

Simply use dir() or better print(dir()) wherever you want to check the variables. If you write this in global space, it'll return list of global variable and if you write this inside a function, it'll return variables inside that function.

answered Dec 10, 2019 at 12:23

theashwanisingla

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Comments

suraj · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-30 16:28:50Z

1

If you need the variable and the value assigned to it then

import data

for name ,values in vars(data).items():
    print(name, values)

You can choose to store name (all the variable names in the script) or the value attached to it .

answered Aug 30, 2021 at 16:28

suraj

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Comments

Riccardo La Marca · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-10 10:22:57Z

In six steps you can obtain and restore your global variables:

write.py:

NI=str(globals().keys())
NI=eval(NI[NI.find('['):NI.find(']')+1])    #Get the initial situation

S='Test'
S2=input()
D={'a':1,'b':2}
N=1                                         #Create some variables

I=0
I=str(globals().keys())
I=eval(I[I.find('['):I.find(']')+1])
for i in NI: I.remove(i)                    #Get your variables

F=open('datafile.txt','w')
for i in I: F.write(i+'='+repr(eval(i))+'\n')
F.close()                                   #Write on a file

read.py:

F=open('datafile.txt')
F.seek(0)
for i in F.read().splitlines(): exec(i)
F.close()                                   #Read from a file

for i in I: print(repr(eval(i)))            #Read your variables

Replace "globals" with "locals" in "write.py" to get only the script variables.

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