exec example - I don't understand

[kepes.krisztian]

Hi !

In
Unifying types and classes in Python 2.2

article I see that:

print a # show the result {1: 3.25, 2: 200}
We can also use the new type in contexts where classic only allows
"real" dictionaries, such as the locals/globals dictionaries for the
exec statement or the built-in function eval():
print a.keys() [1, 2] exec "x = 3; print x" in a

3

But I dont' understand that:
exec "x = 3; print x" in a

So what this code do ?
Why we need "in a" ?

This get same result !

Thanx for help:
FT

[Peter Otten]

ke************* @peto.hu wrote:

But I dont' understand that:
exec "x = 3; print x" in a

So what this code do ?
Why we need "in a" ?

This get same result !

First we make sure there's no variable x in the global namespace:

x Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
NameError: name 'x' is not defined

Underneath, the global namespace is just a dictionary with the variable
names as keys and the objects as values. "x" in globals() False

Now let's use our own dictionary d as the namespace for the exec statement: d = {}
exec "x=1" in d
This leaves the global namespace unaffected: "x" in globals() False

Instead 1 is stored under the key "x" in the dictionary we provided: "x" in d True d["x"] 1

Now let's repeat the same exec statement without explicitly providing a
dictionary. Python will then use globals() as the default. Therefore a
variable x with the value 1 will "magically" appear: exec "x=1"
"x" in globals() True x

1

Peter

[Christopher T King]

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004, ke************* @peto.hu wrote:

print a # show the result {1: 3.25, 2: 200} print a.keys() [1, 2] exec "x = 3; print x" in a 3

But I dont' understand that:
exec "x = 3; print x" in a

So what this code do ?
Why we need "in a" ?

The 'in a' tells exec to run the code using the dictionary a to read and
store variables. In this case, when x is set equal to 3, it's actually
a['x'] being set to 3. Try these examples to get an idea for what's going
on:

a = {'x': 15}
exec 'print x' in a 15 exec 'print x' NameError: name 'x' is not defined exec 'x*=3; print x' in a 45 x NameError: name 'x' is not defined a['x'] 45 exec 'y=10; print y' in a 10 y NameError: name 'y' is not defined a['y']

10

[fowlertrainer]

HI !

Thanx for every answer.
But it is a "bad" thing: when I think to I know something about python I
get some not understanded source code with helpful people's answers, and
them show me that I don't know nothing...

:-)
Christopher T King wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004, ke************* @peto.hu wrote:

>print a # show the result
>
>

{1: 3.25, 2: 200}

>print a.keys()
>
>

[1, 2]

>exec "x = 3; print x" in a
>
>

3

But I dont' understand that:
exec "x = 3; print x" in a

So what this code do ?
Why we need "in a" ?

The 'in a' tells exec to run the code using the dictionary a to read and
store variables. In this case, when x is set equal to 3, it's actually
a['x'] being set to 3. Try these examples to get an idea for what's going
on:

a = {'x': 15}
exec 'print x' in a

15

exec 'print x'

NameError: name 'x' is not defined

exec 'x*=3; print x' in a

45

x

NameError: name 'x' is not defined

a['x']

45

exec 'y=10; print y' in a

10

y

NameError: name 'y' is not defined

a['y']

10