Python: Problems calling a function which is inside another called function

Question

I'm trying to call a function which is contained inside of another function. I know that each of the interior functions work individually because I tested them prior to combining them in rollDice() .

When I try to run the code, it consistently tells me that basically every variable ( d20 , d10 , etc.) is undefined even though I have the rollDice() function running.

How can I get my interior function ( d6(roll6) ) to output the value that it's been assigned after having the rollDice(roll) function?

def diceRoll(roll):

    def d20(roll20):
        import random

        roll20 = random.randint(1,20)

        print("The roll is ", roll20)

        return roll20

    def d12(roll12):
        import random

        roll12 = random.randint(1,12)

        print("The roll is ", roll12)

        return roll12


    def d6(roll6):
        import random

        roll6 = random.randint(1,6)

        print("The roll is ", roll6)

        return roll6

####### example of other part of code

def generateDungeon():
    diceRoll(roll)

    numberOfRooms = roll6

    print("The roll was: ", roll6)

    if numberOfRooms > 1:
        print("There are ", numberOfRooms, "rooms in this dungeon.")

    else:
        print("There is only 1 room in this dungeon.")

    return numberOfRooms

Answer 1

By executing the outer function, you aren't executing any of the inner functions. Their variables are out of scope, anyway.

If you really wanted to use a function in a function (which is unnecessary in this case, by the way), you could make your code much more succinct by using a closure. Also, it's easier just import your packages once at the top:

import random

def diceRoll(roll):
    def helper():
        r = random.randint(1, roll)
        print("The roll is", r)
        return r
    return helper

Then, to use this, call the return value of diceRoll :

numberOfRooms = diceRoll(6)()

---

Note that this whole thing can be done like this:

def diceRoll(roll):
    r = random.randint(1, roll)
    print("The roll is", r)
    return r

And called like:

numberOfRooms = diceRoll(6)