Creating and Assigning variables in a loop

Question

list = ["PIG", "DOG", "CAT"]

Was wondering how can I iterrate through the list and assigned each item as a new variable? Ideally i would want to create these variables and initialize it inside a loop.

Expected outcome:
var1 = "PIG"
var2 = "CAT"
var3 = "DOG"

This looks like an *XY Problem*. Why do you need separate variables for the list elements instead of accessing them by index? — CristiFati, Feb 10 '20 at 17:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 10 '20 at 17:10

2

You can do this -

ls=["PIG", "DOG", "CAT"]
cntr=1
for i in ls:
    locals()['var'+str(cntr)] = i
    cntr += 1

You will get output as:

var1 = "PIG"
var2 = "CAT"
var3 = "DOG"

answered Feb 10 '20 at 17:10

Gary

909
8
20

2

Accessing `locals` like this is bad practice and likely to lead to buggy behaviour for the OP down the line. Use a dictionary – roganjosh Feb 10 '20 at 17:12
In [How to Answer](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer), note the "Answer Well-Asked Questions" section, and therein the bullet point regarding questions that "have been asked and answered many times before". That's particularly important here, where the *best* answer is arguably not a literal one, but one that instructs the user to store their `PIG`, `DOG` and `CAT` values as keys in a dictionary instead. An already-answered copy of the question will already have *both* the literal answer and the best-practice one present, providing the OP with more context and choice. – Charles Duffy Feb 10 '20 at 17:13
@CharlesDuffy - Makes sense! – Gary Feb 10 '20 at 18:23

Creating and Assigning variables in a loop

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