# Help to set properly the scope of a dataframe: want it to be local to a function but not local within each interation of a for-loop inside that function
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/help-to-set-properly-the-scope-of-a-dataframe-want-it-to-be-local-to-a-function-but-not-local-within-each-interation-of-a-for-loop-inside-that-function/88753
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [October 14, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/help-to-set-properly-the-scope-of-a-dataframe-want-it-to-be-local-to-a-function-but-not-local-within-each-interation-of-a-for-loop-inside-that-function/88753 "2022-10-14T20:51:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@martinmestre](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/martinmestre)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/help-to-set-properly-the-scope-of-a-dataframe-want-it-to-be-local-to-a-function-but-not-local-within-each-interation-of-a-for-loop-inside-that-function/88753/1 "2022-10-14T20:51:58Z")
Hello, I have made the following MWE:
```julia
using DataFrames
function Neuquen(df_in::DataFrame)::DataFrame
for i in 1:2
println("step $i")
df_built = append!(df_in, DataFrame(a=[1,2,3], b=[1,2,3], c=[1,2,3]))
if i==1
df_local = df_built
else
append!(df_local, df_built)
end
end
println("df_local = $df_local")
return df_local
end
df_in = DataFrame(a=7ones(3), b=8ones(3), c=9ones(3))
df_out = Neuquen(df_in)
println(df_out)
```
As it is, it gives error when reaching the second step of the loop because it doesn’t recognize the `df_local` data frame that was defined in the first step. If I declare `global df_local` at the beginning of the function it works, but I do not want to have that data frame as a global variable. The code also works if I define `local df_local` but I supposed that this declaration shouldn’t be necessary if I do not have any `df_local` in the outermost scope, that could introduce ambiguity.
Summing up, as the code is written above, why Julia is not aware in the second step of a variable declared in the first step of a loop?
Thank you very much!
---
### Author:  [@pdeffebach](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pdeffebach)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/help-to-set-properly-the-scope-of-a-dataframe-want-it-to-be-local-to-a-function-but-not-local-within-each-interation-of-a-for-loop-inside-that-function/88753/2 "2022-10-14T21:18:31Z")
You want the reserved syntax `local`
```julia
julia> function foo()
for i in 1:5
if i == 1
x = 1
else
x = x + i
end
println(x)
end
end
foo (generic function with 1 method)
julia> foo()
1
ERROR: UndefVarError: x not defined
Stacktrace:
[1] foo()
@ Main ./REPL[6]:6
[2] top-level scope
@ REPL[7]:1
julia> function foo()
local x
for i in 1:5
if i == 1
x = 1
else
x = x + i
end
println(x)
end
end
foo (generic function with 1 method)
julia> foo()
1
3
6
10
15
```
---
### Author:  [@martinmestre](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/martinmestre)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/help-to-set-properly-the-scope-of-a-dataframe-want-it-to-be-local-to-a-function-but-not-local-within-each-interation-of-a-for-loop-inside-that-function/88753/3 "2022-10-14T21:48:28Z")
Thanks @pdeffebach. So the syntax `local` is not only used to solve ambiguities between the scope of a function and the main but also to state that the variable’s scope is not within a `for` loop ?