Can I use arguments to reference a variable?

Question

def rock_paper_scissors_lizard_spock(player1, player2):
 # each variable stores what it can defeat
 scissors = ['paper','lizard']
 rock = ['lizard', 'scissors']
 paper = ['rock','spock']
 lizard = ['spock','paper']
 spock = ['scissors','rock']
 if str(player2) in player1:
 print('player 1 wins')
rock_paper_scissors_lizard_spock('rock','spock')

Can I use the arguments to the function declared above to refer to a particular variable?

• mikael: is this possible? any suggestions? I'm pretty new.
• Ganesh Kathiresan: You can use a dict of lists. So d['rock'] = ['lizard', 'scissors']
• jpp: @MichaelRisling, did the below answer help? if so, feel free to accept the answer (tick on the left), so other users can see a tested answer.

Answer 1

Short answer, no. Use a dictionary.

def rock_paper_scissors_lizard_spock(player1, player2):
 # each variable stores what it can defeat
 mapper = {'scissors': ['paper', 'lizard'],
 'rock': ['lizard', 'scissors'],
 'paper': ['rock', 'spock'],
 'lizard': ['spock', 'paper'],
 'spock': ['scissors', 'rock']}
 print('player %s wins' %(1 if player2 in mapper[player1] else 2))
rock_paper_scissors_lizard_spock('paper', 'rock') # player 1 wins