Check if substring present in variable name - Python

Question

I have a function that takes a given variable as an argument. This variable is a numpy array. Example in pseudo-code:

def foo(var):
   if 'test' in the name of var:
      do something

return

I have tried different options, like

if 'test' in var:

or

if var == 'test_complete_name_of_var'

But these just check the values of the array, and not the variable name. I was hoping there could be some sort of trick such as:

if 'test' in var.name()

Any ideas on how to solve this?

You can't easily do that. Why not change the function signature to def foo(var, test=False):? — xjcl
– xjcl, Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 13:53
Usually if you want to do something like that you can create a dictionary and store the variable under a name. This way you can also check for it. — Andreas
– Andreas, Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 13:56
might also be helpful: stackoverflow.com/questions/18425225/… — FObersteiner
– FObersteiner, Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 13:58

Andreas · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-03 15:07:57Z

1

Usually if you want to do something like that you can create a dictionary and store the variable under a name. This way you can also check for it.

Example:

dict_variables = {}
dict_variables["var_1"] = ["a", "b", "test"]

def foo(var_name):
    var_value = dict_variables.get(var_name)
    if 'var_' in var_name:
       print(var_value)
       
foo("var_1")
#out: ['a', 'b', 'test']

Usefull e.g. for path and dataframe variables.

answered Aug 3, 2020 at 15:07

Andreas

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Comments

Hussein Fawzy · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-03 14:10:45Z

0

First, install the varname library

pip install python-varname

then use it as the following example:

from varname import nameof

def foo(var):
    if 'test' in nameof(var):
      ###do something

answered Aug 3, 2020 at 14:10

Hussein Fawzy

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4 Comments

Mad Physicist Over a year ago

That sounds like massive overkill. The name is literally hard-coded to var. That's just how the language works

Hussein Fawzy Over a year ago

And how would you check if the name contains a certain string?

Mad Physicist Over a year ago

if 'test' in 'var':

Mad Physicist Over a year ago

While I think that the library is neat, I have no idea why it is even remotely useful. I can't think of any use-case where knowing the name something is being assigned to leads to robust code.

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