Function creation at runtime in Python

Question

Is it possible to do something like this:

def fns(Names, Args, Bodies):
 for i in range(len(Names)):
 exec("def " + Names[i] + "(" + Args + "): " + Bodies[i])

All functions should be in the global scope, amount of calling code should not depend on number of functions.

• Blender: Why would you need to do this?
• DSblizzard: I want to quickly create getters and setters for data structures made from lists. Specific fns() code doesn't matter much, it's about idea.
• David Robinson: As others note, there is definitely a better way to do this. Creating global getters and setters for a data structure isn't the right choice in an OOC language anyway- just create a class.
• aquavitae: There are several ways you could do this, but it depends on exactly what you're trying to acheive? Can you give a complete example, showing examples of Names, Args and Bodies? Off the top of my head, one way you could do this would be mess around with code objects, but there's probably a simpler and better way.

Answer 1

not a good idea.. however

for i in range(len(Names)):
 exec("def " + Names[i] + "(" + Args + "): " + Bodies[i]) #create locally
 globals()[Names[i]] = locals()[Names[i]] #assign to global space

but I wouldn't recommend doing this... and that's untested code

• jamylak: Do you mean uppercase names? Also you are assigning globals()[Names[i]] to a string i think.
• DSblizzard: Yes: "TypeError: 'str' object is not callable"
• jamylak: change it to globals()[Names[i]] = locals()[Names[i]]. Also I don't think you should be doing this as well, it is very hack-ish...
• Joran Beasley: oops will fix now (should be locals()names[i]) ..... also I second @jamylak's opinion
• Joran Beasley: make a generic function maybe or a subclass of list that has the getters and setters you want... theres not very many good reasons I can think of for dynamic code like what your talking about...