How to print original variable's name in Python after it was returned from a function?

Question

I have enum and use the variables like myEnum.SomeNameA, myEnum.SomeNameB, etc. When I return one of these variables from a function, can I print their names (such as myEnum.SomeNameA) instead of the value they returned?

Answer 1

Short answer: no.

Long answer: this is possible with some ugly hacks using traceback, inspect and the like, but it's generally probably not recommended for production code. For example see:

• http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/237dc92f3629dd9a?pli=1
• http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/python-Tutor/330294

Perhaps you can use a workaround to translate the value back to a name/representational string. If you post some more sample code and details about what you're wanting this for maybe we can provide more in-depth assistance.