Python passing local variables for modification in function

Question

and I'm trying to figure out how I would go about passing local variables to a function and then returning the modified values. I've written the code below:

def main():
    change = 150    
    coins = 0
    quarter = 25

    while (change >= quarter):
        change = change - quarter
        coins += 1
    print(coins)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

But I'd like to be able to extract the modification of the change and coins variables like so:

def main():
    change = 150    
    coins = 0
    quarter = 25

    while (change >= quarter):
        count (change, coins, quarter)

def count(change, count, n):
    change = change - n
    count += 1
    return change, count

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

However, I know this isn't the way to do it. From what I understand, there could be an issue with trying to return multiple variables from the function, but it also seems like there an issue when I try to even modify only the change variable within the count function. I would really appreciate any advice.

John Gordon · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-23 00:48:36Z

3

You're returning two values from count(), so you should capture those values when you call it:

while (change >= quarter):
    change, coins = count(change, coins, quarter)

Modifying ch and co inside count() will not affect the outer values change and coins.

answered Oct 23, 2016 at 0:48

John Gordon

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