Unable to access the updated global variable's value

Question

Suppose I have two Python files:

1. abc.py:

from .config import *
update_a()
print_a() # prints 5
print(a) # prints 2 rather than 5 even after calling update_a() and using global in update_a()

2. config.py:

a = 2
def update_a():
 global a
 a = 5
def print_a():
 global a
 print(a) # prints 5

The global variable in config.py does not seem to have the updated value when accessed from abc.py.

• anurag: use globals() to achieve what you are trying to achieve!

Answer 1

When you do an import say from .config import *, the variable a is imported as a local scope. Any modification to a will happen within the scope in abc.py NOT in config.py whereas the call to update_a() and print_a() is modifying the variable a within config.py

Answer 2

Adding to Joe's answer, you can achieve what you want with the following piece of code:

import config as config
config.update_a()
config.print_a() # prints 5
# This will print the global variable in 'config.py'
print(config.a) # prints 5