Global var access in imported modules?

I have a main module doStuff.py and another module utility.py. At the
start of doStuff.py I call

import utility.py

Then I also proceed to initiallize some global variables

sName = ""

Then I create a class, some methods etc. In one of the methods I assign
a value to my variable sName. Then I call a function from within
my utility.py file:

utility.makeOne(stuff)


Within my utility.py file, I define the makeOne function. But I want to
use that same global variable "sName" In utility.py I have tried to
indicate that I'm using the global "sName" through the statement:

global sName

But when I go to use the variable it still gives me an error:

NameError: global name 'sName' is not defined

I thought perhaps I need to indicate 'globality' in my main module, so
before I initiallized sName in doStuff.py I added:

global sName

But it doesn't help me. I had this issue before and resolved it by
declaring the variable global in the sub-module utility.py, but then I
needed to reference it in my main module with a prefix:

utility.sName = ""

It's more verbose,and defining globals in a submodule seems backward.
But also, what if I need to access "sName" in another imported module,
say "otherstuff.py"? I would do my "import otherstuff" call in my main
module, but would I have to put an "import utility" into the
otherstuff.py file?

Is there some way I can define globals in my main module, and have them
accessible in all my imported submodule?

As you can see I'm a little unsure about the global handling in a
multi-module environment. Any suggestions appreciated. I've read
http://docs.python.org/ref/naming.html but it hasn't enlightened me on
this one.

re: Global var access in imported modules?

RgeeK wrote:
that tries to import a module named "py" from the package "utility".
the "global" directive in Python is used *inside* a function or method
to indicate that a given name is not local.

Python doesn't have "program-wide global" variables; if you need that,
create a support module and import that module everywhere you need to
access those variables:

# file: globalvars.py
sName = ""

# file: myprogram.py
import globalvars
print globalvars.sName

etc.

</F>

re: Global var access in imported modules?

Fredrik Lundh wrote:oops - that was just a typo in my post - I meant of course "import utility"That's news - thanks, I didn't realize that there just wasn't the
concept of program-wide globals. The support module idea sounds like a
path forward.

-R.

re: Global var access in imported modules?

Fredrik Lundh wrote:oops - that was just a typo in my post - I meant of course "import utility"That's news - thanks, I didn't realize that there just wasn't the
concept of program-wide globals. The support module idea sounds like a
path forward.

-R.

re: Global var access in imported modules?

Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Good to see that approach has broad support :)
I'll do that. I like the idea of a nice short alias for the import to
keep the qualifications brief.

Ross.