Enclosing function
An enclosing function is a function whose body contains a nested function definition and provides a surrounding lexical scope for it.
Python Workout, Second Edition
An enclosing function is a function whose scope contains the definition or execution context of a nested function.
- How it is used
- Uses nested functions to retain invocation-specific configuration and state in returned callable objects.
- How deep it goes
- Explains nested-function creation, LEGB lookup, and nonlocal updates, stopping short of broader closure internals.
- Examples
- Demonstrates password generators, multiplication factories, call counters, shadowed built-ins, and local-versus-global names.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch using nested functions that retain configuration or update enclosing state with nonlocal.
Read how Python Workout, Second Edition explains enclosing function →
Python Workout: 50 ten-minute exercises
An enclosing function is a lexically surrounding function whose local bindings can be accessed by a nested function.
- How it is used
- Uses nested functions to return configurable behavior that retains values from an earlier function invocation.
- How deep it goes
- Explains LEGB lookup, closure creation, separate retained bindings, and nonlocal updates through runnable examples.
- Examples
- Demonstrates password generators, a returned multiplier, a persistent call counter, and shadowed names.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Python to build returned functions that retain configuration or mutable state across calls.
Read how Python Workout: 50 ten-minute exercises explains enclosing function →
Related concepts
- nonlocal statementconfigured by · A nonlocal statement makes a name assigned in a nested Python function refer to a binding in an enclosing function scope.
- inner functionhas part · An inner function is a function defined within the body or scope of another function.
- LEGBused by · LEGB is Python’s name-resolution order of local, enclosing-function, global, and built-in scopes.
- closureused by · A closure is a function or callable value together with access to bindings from the lexical environment in which it was created.
- scopepart of · Scope is the region of a program in which names are visible and can be resolved according to the language’s lookup rules.
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