[FIXED] How to access a variable declared inside IF statement outside IF statement in Python

Issue

I'm trying to use searchData outside my if statement so I could use the variable inside my query. but it gives me an error of UnboundLocalError: local variable 'searchData' referenced before assignment

@app.route('/ML', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
  if request.method == "POST":
        request_data = json.loads(request.data)
        searchData = (request_data['content'])
        return jsonify(searchData)
  mycursor = mydb.cursor(dictionary=True)
  query = "SELECT * FROM COMPANY WHERE COMPANY_NAME LIKE %s LIMIT 20;"
  mycursor.execute(query,("%" + searchData + "%",))
  myresult = mycursor.fetchall()

  company = []
  content = {}

  for result in myresult:
     content ={'COMPANY_NAME':result['COMPANY_NAME'],}
     company.append(content)
     content = {}
  return jsonify(company)

I've also tried declaring searchData just above my if statement. it removes the error but the value isn't changed by my if statement. It stays just how I declared it. I appreciate any help anyone could give. Thank you in advance.

Solution

It seems that this problem can be alleviated by the global treatment to the variable. How about declaring the searchData as global first?

@app.route('/ML', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
  global searchData
  if request.method == "POST":
        request_data = json.loads(request.data)
        searchData = (request_data['content'])
        return jsonify(searchData)
  mycursor = mydb.cursor(dictionary=True)
  query = "SELECT * FROM COMPANY WHERE COMPANY_NAME LIKE %s LIMIT 20;"
  mycursor.execute(query,("%" + searchData + "%",))
  myresult = mycursor.fetchall()

  company = []
  content = {}

  for result in myresult:
     content ={'COMPANY_NAME':result['COMPANY_NAME'],}
     company.append(content)
     content = {}
  return jsonify(company)

Answered By - Kurt Irvin Rojas