Generating functions inside loop with lambda expression in python

Question

If I make two lists of functions:

def makeFun(i):
    return lambda: i

a = [makeFun(i) for i in range(10)]
b = [lambda: i for i in range(10)]

why do lists a and b not behave in the save way?

For example:

>>> a[2]()
2
>>> b[2]()
9

Answer 1

As others have stated, scoping is the problem. Note that you can solve this by adding an extra argument to the lambda expression and assigning it a default value:

>> def makeFun(i): return lambda: i
... 
>>> a = [makeFun(i) for i in range(10)]
>>> b = [lambda: i for i in range(10)]
>>> c = [lambda i=i: i for i in range(10)]  # <-- Observe the use of i=i
>>> a[2](), b[2](), c[2]()
(2, 9, 2)

The result is that i is now explicitly placed in a scope confined to the lambda expression.