Checking for an "undefined" variable - newbie question

[Dan Rawson]

Steven Taschuk wrote:
> Quoth Dan Rawson:
> 
>>How do I check if a variable has been defined??
> 
>   [...]
> 
>>try:
>>     variable
>>except NameError:
>>     ...
> 
> 
> This is the answer to your question.
> 
> 
>>If there's a more elegant way to check this, that would be great!
> 
> 
> Why do you want to check it in the first place?
> 
> In particular, why not initialize your variable to some
> out-of-band value (such as None) and test that?  E.g.,
> 
>     myvar = None
>     # ... code which might set myvar to something else ...
>     if myvar is None:
>         # ...
> 
So I guess it's as much a philosophy issue as a technical one <g>.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions; I now have the script up and running!

Dan