How To Share A Global Variable Across Files And Modules In Python

The aim of this page📝 is to share how I make certain variables accessible for different modules/files in Python.

Pavol Kutaj

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Jul 17, 2022

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• I do this not to repeat myself (DRY principle)
• I am not using global keyword (no help here)
• I am simplifying the approach from stack overflow
• My use is in my short Jirc (Jira Card from Terminal) script
• My global variable is a path to a config file that I need on various occasions in various places

1. STEPS

• Move all globals to a file, I call this file settings.py
• As we know, the code (outside of functions) is executed upon import statement
• This fact binds a variable upon import to the proper environment frame and voila you have access to the variable
• This is simply how my settings.py looks like

# settings.py
config_file_path = "./jirc/jirc/config.json"

• Then, every other file that wants to share variables needs to import settings
• My preference is to use from settings import * form that removes the need to use the module prefix
• You could use import settings and refer to the global variable with settings.variable_name to make it more explicit
• After import, variables are readily available

2. LINKS

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13034496/using-global-variables-between-files