KITFORMA · EDITORIAL GUIDE
Why does assigning later in a function cause UnboundLocalError earlier?
KitForma editorial guide. An assignment makes a name local throughout that function unless declared otherwise. Reading it before that local assignment has no value to read.
Step-by-step guidance
An assignment makes a name local throughout that function unless declared otherwise. Reading it before that local assignment has no value to read.
Prefer passing the value in and returning its replacement:
def increment(count): return count + 1. Use nonlocal only for intentionally shared enclosing-function state and global only for an intentional module binding. Reproduce the error with a two-line function, then test two independent callers to ensure their state does not leak. Moving the assignment lower does not change scope classification. Mutating an existing object and rebinding its name are different operations.Sources and verification
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