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Python locals() function

Updated on Jan 07, 2020

The locals() function returns a dictionary containing the variables defined in the local namespace. Calling locals() in the global namespace is same as calling globals() and returns a dictionary representing the global namespace of the module.

Its syntax is as follows:

locals() -> dictionary containg local scope variables

Here is an example:

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#!/usr/bin/python3

from pprint import pprint

a = 10
b = 20

def foo():
    x = 30 # x and y are local variables
    y = 40

print("locals() = {0}".format(locals()))


pprint(locals()) # same as calling globals()

print('*' * 80)

print("locals() == globals()? ", locals() == globals())

print('*' * 80)

foo()

Expected Output:

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{'__builtins__': <module 'builtins' (built-in)>,
'__cached__': None,
'__doc__': None,
'__file__': 'module1.py',
'__loader__': <_frozen_importlib_external.SourceFileLoader object at 0x7fa18790a828>,
'__name__': '__main__',
'__package__': None,
'__spec__': None,
'a': 10,
'b': 20,
'foo': <function foo at 0x7fa1878752f0>,
'pprint': <function pprint at 0x7fa1878756a8>}

********************************************************************************

locals() == globals()? True

********************************************************************************

locals() = {'y': 40, 'x': 30}

Try it out:

from pprint import pprint

a = 10
b = 20

def foo():
    x = 30 # x and y are local variables
    y = 40

print("locals() = {0}".format(locals()))


pprint(locals()) # same as calling globals()

print('*' * 80)

print("locals() == globals()? ", locals() == globals())

print('*' * 80)

foo()

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