Creating new variables in loop, with names from list, in Python

Question

How to create new variables with names from list? This:

name = ['mike', 'john', 'steve']   
age = [20, 32, 19]  
index = 0

for e in name:
    name[index] = age[index]
    index = index+1

of course does not work. What should I do?

I want to do this:

print mike
>>> 20

print steve
>>> 19

Solution 1

I think dictionaries are more suitable for this purpose:

>>> name = ['mike', 'john', 'steve']   

>>> age = [20, 32, 19] 

>>> dic=dict(zip(name, age))

>>> dic['mike']
20
>>> dic['john']
32

But if you still want to create variables on the fly you can use globals()[]:

>>> for x,y in zip(name, age):
    globals()[x] = y


>>> mike
20
>>> steve
19
>>> john
32

Solution 2

You can use globals():

globals()[e] = age[index]

Generally, though, you don't want to do that; a dictionary is much more convenient.

people = {
    'mike': 20,
    'john': 32,
    'steve': 19
}