Accessing a local variable whose name comes from user input

Question

i need to access strings using raw_input.

list1 = ["one","Two","three"]

list2 = ["1","2","3"]

while True:

        ip = raw_input("enter list: ")
        for i  in  ip:
                    print i
        break

When "list1" is given as input, it takes as string but not as list. I need to access the list defined above. I need a way to access the lists and print the list.

You should not use eval instead of that use literal eval. stackoverflow.com/questions/15197673/… — Tanveer Alam
– Tanveer Alam, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 0:34
@TanveerAlam: even literal_eval with user supplied input can be bad for security (in the best case leak a lot of information). — Paulo Scardine
– Paulo Scardine, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 0:37
I wanted to make sure that they use literal eval instead of eval but in this case that is bad idea. Thanks Paulo. — Tanveer Alam
– Tanveer Alam, Commented Dec 18, 2014 at 0:41

Paulo Scardine · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-18 00:27:00Z

1

Use a dict:

lists = {
    "list1": ["one","Two","three"],
    "list2": ["1","2","3"],       
}

while True:
    choice = raw_input("enter the list name: ")
    try:
        for item in lists[choice]:
            print item
    except KeyError:
        print "I never heard of any list named '{}'! Try again.".format(choice)
    else:
        break

answered Dec 18, 2014 at 0:27

Paulo Scardine

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1 Comment

kiran6 Over a year ago

Thanks Paulo for the answer.

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