change global variable through dictionary (python)

Question

Beginner question here. I'm trying to modify a global variable by a function using dictionary. Sample code here:

count = 0
sample = {'a' : [False, count, 20], 'b' : [False, count, 60]}

d = raw_input('give dict key: ')
    for each in sample:
        if each == d:
            sample[each][0] = True
        sample[each][1] += sample[each][2]

print('count ' + str(count))
print(sample) 
print('count ' + str(count))

The result is (no surprise):

give dict key: b
count 0
{'a': [False, 0, 20], 'b': [True, 60, 60]}
count 0

I understand the result, but I'd like to know if there's any way to access and change the global variable, so that count in last line would give 60 not 0 . (Preferably with simple methods, OOP is out of my reach at the moment).

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EDIT: Thank you for the answers! I wasn't precise enough and proposed solutions will not work in my case. The statement above is a part of a bigger function and there's more variables also, let's try to redefine it:

countOne = 0
countTwo = 0

sample = {'a' : [False, countOne, 20, 'mouse'], 'b' : [False, countTwo, 60, 'cat']}



def someFunction():
    global countOne, countTwo
    while something:
        if somethingElse:
            if anotherThing:
                d = raw_input('give dict key: ')
                for each in sample:
                    if each == d:
                        sample[each][0] = True
                        sample[each][1] += sample[each][2]

print('count ' + str(count))
print(sample) 
print('count ' + str(count))

I'm sorry for confusion, haven't thought that shortening it, would allow other methods to be applicable.

For the first answer, it wouldn't work, because in my dictionary I have quite a lot of global variables (more than those two above) and according to the raw_input the specific variable should be accessed and modified.

For the second answer, it wouldn't work as it's not local anymore.

Answer 1

Ok, an assumption. I'm assuming that you don't know ahead of time which variable you're going to be modifying.

If that's accurate, the following will do what you want:

count = 0
sample = {'a' : [False, 'count', 20], 'b' : [False, 'count', 60]}

d = input('give dict key: ')
print('count ' + str(count))
for each in sample:
    if each == d:
        sample[each][0] = True
        locals()[sample[each][1]] += sample[each][2]


print(sample) 
print('count ' + str(count))

Yields:

give dict key: b
count 0
{'a': [False, 'count', 20], 'b': [True, 'count', 60]}
count 60

Note that I changed the second entry in each list to a string, so it's not interpreted at the point of the dictionary creation.

locals() will return the list of the local symbol table. Note that in this context, count is a local variable, not a global variable. You're just at the highest scope so it's a distinction without a difference. Once you have the symbol table you can assign to it like any list.