Modification of dictionary returned by locals()¶
ID: py/modification-of-locals
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: warning
Precision: very-high
Tags:
- reliability
- correctness
Query suites:
- python-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
The dictionary returned by locals() is not a view of the function’s locals, but a copy. Therefore, modification of the dictionary returned from locals() will not modify the local variables of the function.
Recommendation¶
If the intention is to modify a local variable, then do so directly.
Example¶
In this example, rather than assigning to the variable z directly, the dictionary returned by locals() is modified.
def modifies_locals_sum(x, y):
locals()['z'] = x + y
#z will not be defined as modifications to locals() do not alter the local variables.
return z
def fixed_sum(x, y):
z = x + y
return z
References¶
Python Language Reference: The for statement.
Python Tutorial: for statements.