def foo(): print "\ncalling foo()..." bar = 200 print "in foo(), bar is", bar bar = 100 print "in __main__, bar is", bar foo() print "\nin __main__, bar is (still)", bar is_this_global = 'xyz' def foo(): global is_this_global this_is_local = 'abc' is_this_global = 'def' print this_is_local + is_this_global foo() print is_this_global