unboundlocalerror local variable 'http' referenced before assignment

Local variable referenced before assignment in Python

Last updated: Apr 8, 2024 Reading time · 4 min

# Local variable referenced before assignment in Python

The Python "UnboundLocalError: Local variable referenced before assignment" occurs when we reference a local variable before assigning a value to it in a function.

To solve the error, mark the variable as global in the function definition, e.g. global my_var .

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

We assign a value to the name variable in the function.

# Mark the variable as global to solve the error

To solve the error, mark the variable as global in your function definition.

If a variable is assigned a value in a function's body, it is a local variable unless explicitly declared as global .

# Local variables shadow global ones with the same name

You could reference the global name variable from inside the function but if you assign a value to the variable in the function's body, the local variable shadows the global one.

Accessing the name variable in the function is perfectly fine.

On the other hand, variables declared in a function cannot be accessed from the global scope.

The name variable is declared in the function, so trying to access it from outside causes an error.

Make sure you don't try to access the variable before using the global keyword, otherwise, you'd get the SyntaxError: name 'X' is used prior to global declaration error.

# Returning a value from the function instead

An alternative solution to using the global keyword is to return a value from the function and use the value to reassign the global variable.

We simply return the value that we eventually use to assign to the name global variable.

# Passing the global variable as an argument to the function

You should also consider passing the global variable as an argument to the function.

We passed the name global variable as an argument to the function.

If we assign a value to a variable in a function, the variable is assumed to be local unless explicitly declared as global .

# Assigning a value to a local variable from an outer scope

If you have a nested function and are trying to assign a value to the local variables from the outer function, use the nonlocal keyword.

The nonlocal keyword allows us to work with the local variables of enclosing functions.

Had we not used the nonlocal statement, the call to the print() function would have returned an empty string.

Printing the message variable on the last line of the function shows an empty string because the inner() function has its own scope.

Changing the value of the variable in the inner scope is not possible unless we use the nonlocal keyword.

Instead, the message variable in the inner function simply shadows the variable with the same name from the outer scope.

# Discussion

As shown in this section of the documentation, when you assign a value to a variable inside a function, the variable:

• Becomes local to the scope.
• Shadows any variables from the outer scope that have the same name.

The last line in the example function assigns a value to the name variable, marking it as a local variable and shadowing the name variable from the outer scope.

At the time the print(name) line runs, the name variable is not yet initialized, which causes the error.

The most intuitive way to solve the error is to use the global keyword.

The global keyword is used to indicate to Python that we are actually modifying the value of the name variable from the outer scope.

• If a variable is only referenced inside a function, it is implicitly global.
• If a variable is assigned a value inside a function's body, it is assumed to be local, unless explicitly marked as global .

If you want to read more about why this error occurs, check out [this section] ( this section ) of the docs.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• SyntaxError: name 'X' is used prior to global declaration

Borislav Hadzhiev

Web Developer

Copyright © 2024 Borislav Hadzhiev

How to fix UnboundLocalError: local variable 'x' referenced before assignment in Python

by Nathan Sebhastian

Posted on May 26, 2023

Reading time: 2 minutes

One error you might encounter when running Python code is:

This error commonly occurs when you reference a variable inside a function without first assigning it a value.

You could also see this error when you forget to pass the variable as an argument to your function.

Let me show you an example that causes this error and how I fix it in practice.

How to reproduce this error

Suppose you have a variable called name declared in your Python code as follows:

Next, you created a function that uses the name variable as shown below:

When you execute the code above, you’ll get this error:

This error occurs because you both assign and reference a variable called name inside the function.

Python thinks you’re trying to assign the local variable name to name , which is not the case here because the original name variable we declared is a global variable.

How to fix this error

To resolve this error, you can change the variable’s name inside the function to something else. For example, name_with_title should work:

As an alternative, you can specify a name parameter in the greet() function to indicate that you require a variable to be passed to the function.

When calling the function, you need to pass a variable as follows:

This code allows Python to know that you intend to use the name variable which is passed as an argument to the function as part of the newly declared name variable.

Still, I would say that you need to use a different name when declaring a variable inside the function. Using the same name might confuse you in the future.

Here’s the best solution to the error:

Now it’s clear that we’re using the name variable given to the function as part of the value assigned to name_with_title . Way to go!

The UnboundLocalError: local variable 'x' referenced before assignment occurs when you reference a variable inside a function before declaring that variable.

To resolve this error, you need to use a different variable name when referencing the existing variable, or you can also specify a parameter for the function.

I hope this tutorial is useful. See you in other tutorials.

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Python UnboundLocalError: local variable referenced before assignment

by Suf | Programming , Python , Tips

If you try to reference a local variable before assigning a value to it within the body of a function, you will encounter the UnboundLocalError: local variable referenced before assignment.

The preferable way to solve this error is to pass parameters to your function, for example:

Alternatively, you can declare the variable as global to access it while inside a function. For example,

This tutorial will go through the error in detail and how to solve it with code examples .

Table of contents

What is scope in python, unboundlocalerror: local variable referenced before assignment, solution #1: passing parameters to the function, solution #2: use global keyword, solution #1: include else statement, solution #2: use global keyword.

Scope refers to a variable being only available inside the region where it was created. A variable created inside a function belongs to the local scope of that function, and we can only use that variable inside that function.

A variable created in the main body of the Python code is a global variable and belongs to the global scope. Global variables are available within any scope, global and local.

UnboundLocalError occurs when we try to modify a variable defined as local before creating it. If we only need to read a variable within a function, we can do so without using the global keyword. Consider the following example that demonstrates a variable var created with global scope and accessed from test_func :

If we try to assign a value to var within test_func , the Python interpreter will raise the UnboundLocalError:

This error occurs because when we make an assignment to a variable in a scope, that variable becomes local to that scope and overrides any variable with the same name in the global or outer scope.

var +=1 is similar to var = var + 1 , therefore the Python interpreter should first read var , perform the addition and assign the value back to var .

var is a variable local to test_func , so the variable is read or referenced before we have assigned it. As a result, the Python interpreter raises the UnboundLocalError.

Example #1: Accessing a Local Variable

Let’s look at an example where we define a global variable number. We will use the increment_func to increase the numerical value of number by 1.

Let’s run the code to see what happens:

The error occurs because we tried to read a local variable before assigning a value to it.

We can solve this error by passing a parameter to increment_func . This solution is the preferred approach. Typically Python developers avoid declaring global variables unless they are necessary. Let’s look at the revised code:

We have assigned a value to number and passed it to the increment_func , which will resolve the UnboundLocalError. Let’s run the code to see the result:

We successfully printed the value to the console.

We also can solve this error by using the global keyword. The global statement tells the Python interpreter that inside increment_func , the variable number is a global variable even if we assign to it in increment_func . Let’s look at the revised code:

Let’s run the code to see the result:

Example #2: Function with if-elif statements

Let’s look at an example where we collect a score from a player of a game to rank their level of expertise. The variable we will use is called score and the calculate_level function takes in score as a parameter and returns a string containing the player’s level .

In the above code, we have a series of if-elif statements for assigning a string to the level variable. Let’s run the code to see what happens:

The error occurs because we input a score equal to 40 . The conditional statements in the function do not account for a value below 55 , therefore when we call the calculate_level function, Python will attempt to return level without any value assigned to it.

We can solve this error by completing the set of conditions with an else statement. The else statement will provide an assignment to level for all scores lower than 55 . Let’s look at the revised code:

In the above code, all scores below 55 are given the beginner level. Let’s run the code to see what happens:

We can also create a global variable level and then use the global keyword inside calculate_level . Using the global keyword will ensure that the variable is available in the local scope of the calculate_level function. Let’s look at the revised code.

In the above code, we put the global statement inside the function and at the beginning. Note that the “default” value of level is beginner and we do not include the else statement in the function. Let’s run the code to see the result:

Congratulations on reading to the end of this tutorial! The UnboundLocalError: local variable referenced before assignment occurs when you try to reference a local variable before assigning a value to it. Preferably, you can solve this error by passing parameters to your function. Alternatively, you can use the global keyword.

If you have if-elif statements in your code where you assign a value to a local variable and do not account for all outcomes, you may encounter this error. In which case, you must include an else statement to account for the missing outcome.

For further reading on Python code blocks and structure, go to the article: How to Solve Python IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level .

Go to the  online courses page on Python  to learn more about Python for data science and machine learning.

Have fun and happy researching!

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Fixing Python UnboundLocalError: Local Variable ‘x’ Accessed Before Assignment

Understanding unboundlocalerror.

The UnboundLocalError in Python occurs when a function tries to access a local variable before it has been assigned a value. Variables in Python have scope that defines their level of visibility throughout the code: global scope, local scope, and nonlocal (in nested functions) scope. This error typically surfaces when using a variable that has not been initialized in the current function’s scope or when an attempt is made to modify a global variable without proper declaration.

Solutions for the Problem

To fix an UnboundLocalError, you need to identify the scope of the problematic variable and ensure it is correctly used within that scope.

Method 1: Initializing the Variable

Make sure to initialize the variable within the function before using it. This is often the simplest fix.

Method 2: Using Global Variables

If you intend to use a global variable and modify its value within a function, you must declare it as global before you use it.

Method 3: Using Nonlocal Variables

If the variable is defined in an outer function and you want to modify it within a nested function, use the nonlocal keyword.

That’s it. Happy coding!

Next Article: Fixing Python TypeError: Descriptor 'lower' for 'str' Objects Doesn't Apply to 'dict' Object

Previous Article: Python TypeError: write() argument must be str, not bytes

Series: Common Errors in Python and How to Fix Them

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Understanding UnboundLocalError in Python

If you're closely following the Python tag on StackOverflow , you'll notice that the same question comes up at least once a week. The question goes on like this:

Why, when run, this results in the following error:

There are a few variations on this question, with the same core hiding underneath. Here's one:

Running the lst.append(5) statement successfully appends 5 to the list. However, substitute it for lst += [5] , and it raises UnboundLocalError , although at first sight it should accomplish the same.

Although this exact question is answered in Python's official FAQ ( right here ), I decided to write this article with the intent of giving a deeper explanation. It will start with a basic FAQ-level answer, which should satisfy one only wanting to know how to "solve the damn problem and move on". Then, I will dive deeper, looking at the formal definition of Python to understand what's going on. Finally, I'll take a look what happens behind the scenes in the implementation of CPython to cause this behavior.

The simple answer

As mentioned above, this problem is covered in the Python FAQ. For completeness, I want to explain it here as well, quoting the FAQ when necessary.

Let's take the first code snippet again:

So where does the exception come from? Quoting the FAQ:

This is because when you make an assignment to a variable in a scope, that variable becomes local to that scope and shadows any similarly named variable in the outer scope.

But x += 1 is similar to x = x + 1 , so it should first read x , perform the addition and then assign back to x . As mentioned in the quote above, Python considers x a variable local to foo , so we have a problem - a variable is read (referenced) before it's been assigned. Python raises the UnboundLocalError exception in this case [1] .

So what do we do about this? The solution is very simple - Python has the global statement just for this purpose:

This prints 11 , without any errors. The global statement tells Python that inside foo , x refers to the global variable x , even if it's assigned in foo .

Actually, there is another variation on the question, for which the answer is a bit different. Consider this code:

This kind of code may come up if you're into closures and other techniques that use Python's lexical scoping rules. The error this generates is the familiar UnboundLocalError . However, applying the "global fix":

Doesn't help - another error is generated: NameError: global name 'x' is not defined . Python is right here - after all, there's no global variable named x , there's only an x in external . It may be not local to internal , but it's not global. So what can you do in this situation? If you're using Python 3, you have the nonlocal keyword. Replacing global by nonlocal in the last snippet makes everything work as expected. nonlocal is a new statement in Python 3, and there is no equivalent in Python 2 [2] .

The formal answer

Assignments in Python are used to bind names to values and to modify attributes or items of mutable objects. I could find two places in the Python (2.x) documentation where it's defined how an assignment to a local variable works.

One is section 6.2 "Assignment statements" in the Simple Statements chapter of the language reference:

Assignment of an object to a single target is recursively defined as follows. If the target is an identifier (name): If the name does not occur in a global statement in the current code block: the name is bound to the object in the current local namespace. Otherwise: the name is bound to the object in the current global namespace.

Another is section 4.1 "Naming and binding" of the Execution model chapter:

If a name is bound in a block, it is a local variable of that block. [...] When a name is used in a code block, it is resolved using the nearest enclosing scope. [...] If the name refers to a local variable that has not been bound, a UnboundLocalError exception is raised.

This is all clear, but still, another small doubt remains. All these rules apply to assignments of the form var = value which clearly bind var to value . But the code snippets we're having a problem with here have the += assignment. Shouldn't that just modify the bound value, without re-binding it?

Well, no. += and its cousins ( -= , *= , etc.) are what Python calls " augmented assignment statements " [ emphasis mine ]:

An augmented assignment evaluates the target (which, unlike normal assignment statements, cannot be an unpacking) and the expression list, performs the binary operation specific to the type of assignment on the two operands, and assigns the result to the original target . The target is only evaluated once. An augmented assignment expression like x += 1 can be rewritten as x = x + 1 to achieve a similar, but not exactly equal effect. In the augmented version, x is only evaluated once. Also, when possible, the actual operation is performed in-place, meaning that rather than creating a new object and assigning that to the target, the old object is modified instead. With the exception of assigning to tuples and multiple targets in a single statement, the assignment done by augmented assignment statements is handled the same way as normal assignments . Similarly, with the exception of the possible in-place behavior, the binary operation performed by augmented assignment is the same as the normal binary operations.

So when earlier I said that x += 1 is similar to x = x + 1 , I wasn't telling all the truth, but it was accurate with respect to binding. Apart for possible optimization, += counts exactly as = when binding is considered. If you think carefully about it, it's unavoidable, because some types Python works with are immutable. Consider strings, for example:

The first line binds x to the value "abc". The second line doesn't modify the value "abc" to be "abcdef". Strings are immutable in Python . Rather, it creates the new value "abcdef" somewhere in memory, and re-binds x to it. This can be seen clearly when examining the object ID for x before and after the += :

Note that some types in Python are mutable. For example, lists can actually be modified in-place:

id(y) didn't change after += , because the object y referenced was just modified. Still, Python re-bound y to the same object [3] .

The "too much information" answer

This section is of interest only to those curious about the implementation internals of Python itself.

One of the stages in the compilation of Python into bytecode is building the symbol table [4] . An important goal of building the symbol table is for Python to be able to mark the scope of variables it encounters - which variables are local to functions, which are global, which are free (lexically bound) and so on.

When the symbol table code sees a variable is assigned in a function, it marks it as local. Note that it doesn't matter if the assignment was done before usage, after usage, or maybe not actually executed due to a condition in code like this:

We can use the symtable module to examine the symbol table information gathered on some Python code during compilation:

This prints:

So we see that x was marked as local in foo . Marking variables as local turns out to be important for optimization in the bytecode, since the compiler can generate a special instruction for it that's very fast to execute. There's an excellent article here explaining this topic in depth; I'll just focus on the outcome.

The compiler_nameop function in Python/compile.c handles variable name references. To generate the correct opcode, it queries the symbol table function PyST_GetScope . For our x , this returns a bitfield with LOCAL in it. Having seen LOCAL , compiler_nameop generates a LOAD_FAST . We can see this in the disassembly of foo :

The first block of instructions shows what x += 1 was compiled to. You will note that already here (before it's actually assigned), LOAD_FAST is used to retrieve the value of x .

This LOAD_FAST is the instruction that will cause the UnboundLocalError exception to be raised at runtime, because it is actually executed before any STORE_FAST is done for x . The gory details are in the bytecode interpreter code in Python/ceval.c :

Ignoring the macro-fu for the moment, what this basically says is that once LOAD_FAST is seen, the value of x is obtained from an indexed array of objects [5] . If no STORE_FAST was done before, this value is still NULL , the if branch is not taken [6] and the exception is raised.

You may wonder why Python waits until runtime to raise this exception, instead of detecting it in the compiler. The reason is this code:

Suppose something_true is a function that returns True , possibly due to some user input. In this case, x = 1 binds x locally, so the reference to it in x += 1 is no longer unbound. This code will then run without exceptions. Of course if something_true actually turns out to return False , the exception will be raised. Python has no way to resolve this at compile time, so the error detection is postponed to runtime.

For comments, please send me an email .

UndboundLocalError: local variable referenced before assignment

Hello all, I’m using PsychoPy 2023.2.3 Win 10 x64bits

What I’m trying to do? The experiment will show in the middle of the screen an abstracted stimuli (B1 or B2), and after valid click on it, the stimulus will remain on the middle of the screen and three more stimuli will appear in the cornor of the screen.

I’m having this erro (attached above), a simple error, but I can not see where the error is. Also the experiment isn’t working proberly and is the old version (I don’t know but someone are having troubles with this version of PscyhoPy)? ba_training_block.xlsx (13.8 KB) SMTS.psyexp (91.6 KB) stimuli, instructions and parameters.xlsx (12.8 KB)

You have a routine called sample but you also use that name for your image file in sample_box .

I changed the name of the routine for ‘stimulus_sample’ and manteined the image file in sample_box as ‘sample’. But, the error still remain. But it do not happen all the time, this is very interesting…

Can u give it a look again? (I made some minor changes here)

Here the exp file ba_training_block.xlsx (13.7 KB) SMTS.psyexp (89.7 KB) stimuli, instructions and parameters.xlsx (12.8 KB)

Thanks again

Please could you confirm/show the new error message? Is it definitely still related to sample?

I think you have blank rows in your spreadsheet. The loop claims that there are 19 conditions but I think you only want 12. Without a value for sample_category sample doesn’t get set. With random presentation this will happen at a random point.

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UnboundLocalError: local variable 'alpha_mask' referenced before assignment #192

HuizhiXu commented May 15, 2024

KindXiaoming commented May 15, 2024

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