How do I automatically generate new variables within a function?

Question

Is there a way I can store all of the return values from a function from each time I call it? Here is the code:

def workdaystart(dayoftheweek):
    starthour=input("What is your START HOUR for "+ dayoftheweek+"? ")
    print("Is that AM or PM")#Allows us to differentiate between time periods#
    print ("1. AM")
    print ("2. PM")
    print("3.I DONT WORK")
    starthoursuffix = int(input('Enter your choice [1-2] : '))

    if starthoursuffix == 1:

        starthour=starthour+"AM"
    elif starthoursuffix==2:
        starthour=starthour+"PM"
    else:
        starthour=" "
    return starthour
daysofweek=
    ["monday","tuesday","wednesday","thursday","friday","saturday","sunday"]
for day in daysofweek:
    x=workdaystart(day)

As you can see it runs the items in the list in the function but I then want the start hour of that day to be stored as a variable outside of the funtion.

That's what x=workdaystart(day) does, it stores the start hour in the variable x. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Oct 26, 2017 at 1:11
But it will keep being overridden. After the loop, the value of x would be the value of Sunday's. Create a dictionary with the days as the keys and the start hours as values — ton
– ton, Commented Oct 26, 2017 at 1:52

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-26 01:13:43Z

1

It sounds like you're looking for a dictionary that maps day names to start hours:

starthours = {}
for day in daysofweek:
    starthours[day] = workdaystart(day)

answered Oct 26, 2017 at 1:13

Barmar

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Comments

elanor · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-26 01:13:53Z

I read this question as such, you want to store all the start hours in a variable, while with your current code, x is overwritten everytime you loop through the function.

How about using a dictionary? You can then retrieve it according to the day at will.

def workdaystart(dayoftheweek):
    starthour=input("What is your START HOUR for "+ dayoftheweek+"? ")
    print("Is that AM or PM")#Allows us to differentiate between time periods#
    print ("1. AM")
    print ("2. PM")
    print("3.I DONT WORK")
    starthoursuffix = int(input('Enter your choice [1-2] : '))

    if starthoursuffix == 1:
        starthour=starthour+"AM"
    elif starthoursuffix==2:
        starthour=starthour+"PM"
    else:
        starthour=" "
    return starthour

daysofweek["monday",...]
workdaydictionary = {}

for day in daysofweek:
    workdaydictionary[day] = workdaystart(day)

Ajax1234 · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-26 01:17:18Z

0

You can generate a list of the returned starthour values:

daysofweek = ["monday","tuesday","wednesday","thursday","friday","saturday","sunday"]
hours = [workdaystart(day) for day in daysofweek]

answered Oct 26, 2017 at 1:17

Ajax1234

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Comments

hynekcer · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-26 02:06:33Z

0

The Barmar's answer is very useful. You can understand a list or dictionary as mutable data structures where new values can be easily added and can be accessed by index or by key. If you want to do it inside a function, it is better to rename it clearly and to add the dictionary starthours as a parameter.

def edit_workdaystart(dayoftheweek, starthours):
    ... the same
    ...
    starthours[dayoftheweek] = starthour
    # return starthour  # can be omitted

starthours = {}
for day in daysofweek:
    edit_workdaystart(day, starthours)

answered Oct 26, 2017 at 2:06

hynekcer

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