[unit4216]

Basically, I'm writing a program to log people clocking in and when they clock in.

It's not very sophisticated or anything, but I'm trying to add an authorization feature.

I'm basically just using a .txt file to store passwords and their corresponding names, but I'm having trouble with an error I keep getting telling me that a variable is not defined. Here's the relevant code:

 global name
    for line in "logins.txt":
        if password in line:
            loginLine = line.split('\t\t')
            name = loginLine[2]

Anyway, it keeps saying that name is not defined, even though I tried a bunch of different ways to make it global. Does anyone know how to make a variable like that global? Also, because the code I used to find the password/name combo in the .txt file is somewhat bad, if you think of a better way to do it (that involves a text file that can be manipulated (theoretically) by an office manager or seomthing) then please, let me know.

If I left out anything important, let me know.

Also, I'm very much a beginner at python, so don't ridicule me too much.

Thanks a bunch,

Pablo

[unit4216]

Sorry, I forgot to add the error message, as I've noticed it's different from the others I've seen.

Also, sorry, I don't know how to edit posts.

But anyway, the specific error is this: NameError: global name 'name' is not defined

It seems to have the word "name" in it that is aside from the variable.

Hopefully that helps.

[Simown]

Kind of the right idea, you don't need to register the variable as global, rather reference it when you want to access it. I'll do some examples and hopefully you can see:

name = "Alan"

def myName():
    name = "Peter"

>>> name
"Alan"
>>> myName()
>>> name
"Alan"

As you can see, the function did not change the global variable. If I do:

name = "Alan"

def myName():
   global name
   name = "Peter"

>>> name
"Alan"
>>> myName()
>>> name
"Peter"

As you can see, the function the second time modified the global variable because I told it to reference it within the function, otherwise the function's "name" variable is lost when it leaves that function's scope. Hope that helps

This post has been edited by Simown: 23 September 2011 - 06:04 PM

[unit4216]

Simown, on 23 September 2011 - 06:01 PM, said:

Kind of the right idea, you don't need to register the variable as global, rather reference it when you want to access it. I'll do some examples and hopefully you can see:

name = "Alan"

def myName():
    name = "Peter"

>>> name
"Alan"
>>> myName()
>>> name
"Alan"

As you can see, the function did not change the global variable. If I do:

name = "Alan"

def myName():
   global name
   name = "Peter"

>>> name
"Alan"
>>> myName()
>>> name
"Peter"

As you can see, the function the second time modified the global variable because I told it to reference it within the function, otherwise the function's "name" variable is lost when it leaves that function's scope. Hope that helps

Thanks, I think I get it. Though, in my situation, I don't quite know if I can-- well... How would I reference it, though, the declaration is inside a for loop which is inside the function where the variable is needed later.

Basically:

function()
     for .....
          var = 9001
     otherVar = var + 5

ERROR: var is not assigned a value before it is referenced.

Quite simply, I understand the concept of global and local variables (I think), but in this case, how could I reference it if it's within the same function? It's just in a loop.

[Simown]

You are trying to access the variable before it's initalised, try setting a default value, 0 maybe?

def func():
  var = 0
  for i in range(10):
        var = var + 1
  print var

>> func()
10

Of course you can assign the function to a value (if you swap return for print) to use later. Or pass the variable as a parameter to the function.

>>> myVar = func()
>>> myVar + 50
60

This post has been edited by Simown: 23 September 2011 - 06:22 PM

[unit4216]

Simown, on 23 September 2011 - 06:19 PM, said:

You are trying to access the variable before it's initalised, try setting a default value, 0 maybe?

def func():
  var = 0
  for i in range(10):
        var = var + 1
  print var

>> func()
10

You sir, are a god.

Thank you a ton, I can't believe I didn't think of this, I must be retarded.

Anyway, I will daily bow down and worship your avatar for giving me the kicking myself that I probably deserved.

Thank you,

Pablo

[Simown]

Everyone makes the simplest of mistakes sometimes, don't be so hard on yourself. And it wasn't a kicking, it was some friendly advice.

Surely you won't forget next time