convert a string to a variable

[bruceg113355 at gmail.com]

I am trying to convert a string to a variable.

I got cases 1 & 2 to work, but not cases 3 & 4.

The print statement in cases 3 & 4 reports the following:
    builtins.AttributeError: type object 'animal' has no attribute 'tiger'
    
I am stuck on creating variables that can be accessed as follows.
          animal.tiger
          self.animal.tiger

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bruce


# Tested on Python 3.6.5

# Case 1: This works
indata = 'animal_tiger'
vars()[indata] = "Tigers, big and strong!"
print (animal_tiger)


# Case 2: This works
class animal():
    def create (self, indata):
        vars(self)[indata] = "Tigers, big and strong!"
        print (self.animal_tiger)

tmp = animal()
tmp.create('animal_tiger')


#############################################################

# Case 3: This does not work
indata = 'animal.tiger'
vars()[indata] = "Tigers, big and strong!"
print (animal.tiger)


#Case 4: This does not work
class animal():
    def create (self, indata):
        vars(self)[indata] = "Tigers, big and strong!"
        print (self.animal.tiger)

tmp = animal()
tmp.create('animal.tiger')