nonlocal Basics

Python 3.0 introduces a new nonlocal statement, which has meaning only inside a function:

def func():
    nonlocal name1, name2, ...

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This statement allows a nested function to change one or more names defined in a syntactically enclosing function’s scope. In Python 2.X (including 2.6), when one function def is nested in another, the nested function can reference any of the names defined by assignment in the enclosing def’s scope, but it cannot change them. In 3.0, declaring the enclosing scopes’ names in a nonlocal statement enables nested functions to assign and thus change such names as well.

This provides a way for enclosing functions to provide writeable state information, remembered when the nested function is later called. Allowing the state to change makes it more useful to the nested function (imagine a counter in the enclosing scope, for instance). In 2.X, programmers usually achieve similar goals by using classes or other schemes. Because nested functions have become a more common coding pattern for state retention, though, nonlocal makes it more generally applicable.

Besides allowing names in enclosing defs to be changed, the nonlocal statement also forces the issue for references—just like the global statement, nonlocal causes searches for the names listed in the statement to begin in the enclosing defs’ scopes, not in the local scope of the declaring function. That is, nonlocal also means “skip my local scope entirely.”

In fact, the names listed in a nonlocal must have been previously defined in an enclosing def when the nonlocal is reached, or an error is raised. The net effect is much like global: global means the names reside in the enclosing module, and nonlocal means they reside in an enclosing def. nonlocal is even more strict, though—scope search is restricted to only enclosing defs. That is, nonlocal names can appear only in enclosing defs, not in the module’s global scope or built-in scopes outside the defs.

The addition of nonlocal does not alter name reference scope rules in general; they still work as before, per the “LEGB” rule described earlier. The nonlocal statement mostly serves to allow names in enclosing scopes to be changed rather than just referenced. However, global and nonlocal statements do both restrict the lookup rules somewhat, when coded in a function:

 

 
  • global makes scope lookup begin in the enclosing module’s scope and allows names there to be assigned. Scope lookup continues on to the built-in scope if the name does not exist in the module, but assignments to global names always create or change them in the module’s scope.
  • nonlocal restricts scope lookup to just enclosing defs, requires that the names already exist there, and allows them to be assigned. Scope lookup does not continue on to the global or built-in scopes.

In Python 2.6, references to enclosing def scope names are allowed, but not assignment. However, you can still use classes with explicit attributes to achieve the same changeable state information effect as nonlocals (and you may be better off doing so in some contexts); globals and function attributes can sometimes accomplish similar goals as well. More on this in a moment; first, let’s turn to some working code to make this more concrete.