10.8. Parameters and Variables

Earlier, we said that a parameter “behaves like a variable within the function.” While this is true, the relationship between variables and parameters is a bit more complicated.

10.8.1. Function Scope

The scope of a variable refers to where that variable is useable within a program. Scope consists of all locations in a program where a variable can be used or modified.

Warning

A variable defined inside a function is NOT usable outside of that function.

Consider the following function, which takes a string as a parameter and returns a new string without hyphens, -.

Try It!

  1. Run the program as-is, and examine the output.

  2. On line 3, add the following code to the function body. Re-run the program and examine the output.

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       print(phone_number, str_with_hyphens)

  3. On line 9, add print(without_hyphens) and run the program one more time. You should receive an error message.

In step 1, the function remove_hyphens behaves as expected. It takes the argument "555-555-5555", removes the "-" symbols, and returns the result. Line 7 assigns that result to the variable no_hyph_number, and line 8 prints it to the console.

In step 2, the print statement on line 3 shows us that the value of phone_number has been assigned to the parameter str_with_hyphens. Both variables are visible inside the function.

Warning

Since the original variable and the parameter have the same values, you might be tempted to just use phone_number in the function.

DON’T!

We will explain why later, but it is important that you recognize this warning now.

In step 3, we receive an error message (NameError: name 'without_hyphens' is not defined) when we try to print without_hyphens on line 9.

Line 7 calls remove_hyphens, which returns without_hyphens with the value "5555555555". However, once the function finishes ALL VARIABLES AND PARAMETERS WITHIN THE FUNCTION ARE DESTROYED.

This is why line 9 produces a NameError—there is no longer a variable named without_hyphens.

This is what we mean when we refer to scope. A variable is not always usable throughout an entire program. Where it can be used depends on where it is defined.

Parameters and variables defined inside a function are only visible within that function.

10.8.2. Variable Shadowing

What about variables defined OUTSIDE of a function? We saw above that phone_number was visible inside of the remove_hyphens function.

This situation is more complicated. A variable defined outside a function may be visible within the function, but using it or trying to change its value creates problems.

Try It!

Let’s take another look at our remove_hyphens function.

  1. Run the program as-is, and examine the output.

  2. On line 3, add the following code to the function body. Re-run the program and examine the output.

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       phone_number = '1234'

In step 1, even though phone_number is defined outside the function, it is still visible within the function. When remove_hyphens is called and print(phone_number) on line 4 runs, phone_number has the value "555-555-5555". This means that the scope of phone_number extends into the function remove_hyphens.

In step 2, we assign phone_number a value of '1234' in line 3. Now line 4 displays that new number in the console. However, line 10 still prints the original value 555-555-5555.

Line 3 actually defines a NEW phone_number variable inside the function, and this variable is different from the one outside of the function. This situation confuses many new coders—we created two variables that have the same name but different values. Yuck!

Tip

Do NOT define variables inside a function that use the same names found outside of the function.

Example

What if we did something like this:

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def remove_hyphens(phone_number)
   without_hyphens = phone_number.replace('-', '')
   return without_hyphens

phone_number = "614-555-5555"
no_hyph_number = remove_hyphens('56-78')

We don’t recommend doing this! Are you having trouble interpreting this code? When the function runs, does phone_number on line 2 have the value "614-555-5555" or '56-78'? Feel free to run this code in the editor above to find out.

An interesting thing happens when a function parameter has the same name as a variable defined outside of that function.

While the variable phone_number declared on line 5 is visible inside remove_hyphens, it is hidden by the function parameter with the same name. When remove_hyphens('56-78') is called, and phone_number.replace('-', '') runs, phone_number has the value '56-78', which is the argument passed into the function.

This situation is called shadowing. We can imagine that a function parameter casts a shadow over a variable of the same name and hides it from view.

Warning

There is NO good reason to allow variable shadowing in your programs!

Avoid giving variables and function parameters the same name.

10.8.3. Check Your Understanding

Question

What does the following code output?

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def is_even(num):
   return num % 2 == 0

num = 42
print(is_even(43))
  1. True
  2. False