Closures in Python are created by function calls. Here, the call to makeInc
creates a binding for x
that is referenced inside the function inc
. Each call to makeInc
creates a new instance of this function, but each instance has a link to a different binding of x
.
def makeInc(x):
def inc(y):
# x is "attached" in the definition of inc
return y + x
return inc
incOne = makeInc(1)
incFive = makeInc(5)
incOne(5) # returns 6
incFive(5) # returns 10
Notice that while in a regular closure the enclosed function fully inherits all variables from its enclosing environment, in this construct the enclosed function has only read access to the inherited variables but cannot make assignments to them
def makeInc(x):
def inc(y):
# incrementing x is not allowed
x += y
return x
return inc
incOne = makeInc(1)
incOne(5) # UnboundLocalError: local variable 'x' referenced before assignment
Python 3 offers the nonlocal
statement (Nonlocal Variables ) for realizing a full closure with nested functions.
def makeInc(x):
def inc(y):
nonlocal x
# now assigning a value to x is allowed
x += y
return x
return inc
incOne = makeInc(1)
incOne(5) # returns 6