# The same name for a function and a variable
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-same-name-for-a-function-and-a-variable/108325
**Category:** General Usage
**Tags:** question
**Created:** [January 4, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-same-name-for-a-function-and-a-variable/108325 "2024-01-04T02:21:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jiang\_ming\_zhang](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jiang_ming_zhang)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-same-name-for-a-function-and-a-variable/108325/1 "2024-01-04T02:21:57Z")
```julia
julia> function dis(x, y)
return dis = sqrt(x^2 + y^2)
end
dis (generic function with 1 method)
julia> a = dis(1, 2)
2.23606797749979
julia> dis = dis(1,2)
ERROR: invalid redefinition of constant dis
Stacktrace:
[1] top-level scope
@ REPL[5]:1
```
It seems that it is ok to have a variable of the same name with a function inside the function, but not outside the function.
This is somehow inconvenient, as I want a function for generating some variable, and for the sake of my memory, I want to name the function and the variable the same, so that I can call the function like
```julia
distance = distance(x, y)
```
---
### Author:  [@Benny](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Benny)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2024, 2:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-same-name-for-a-function-and-a-variable/108325/2 "2024-01-04T02:39:43Z")
Remember what I said earlier today? Assignments in local scopes do not reassign global variables by default. A function is a “hard scope”, so that rule doesn’t change in the REPL either. So, `dis = sqrt...` made a new local variable; 2 scopes, 2 different variables. However, `dis = dis(...)` in the global scope does attempt to reassign a global variable; 1 scope cannot have 2 different variables with the same name. Global functions are protected by implicit `const` declarations, meaning that variable cannot be reassigned. If `dis` wasn’t `const`, you lose access to the function, for example:
```julia
let
function f(x) # f is local variable, cannot be const
f = x
end
f(1) # call reassigns f
f(1) # fails because f is not assigned to a function anymore
end
```
In any language, It’s bad practice to use the same name for 2 different variables in nested scopes. Use different names for different meanings; `dis` should not refer to a function and a possible output.
---
### Author:  [@kevbonham](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kevbonham)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-same-name-for-a-function-and-a-variable/108325/3 "2024-01-04T03:17:29Z")
> [@Benny](#):
>
> In any language, It’s bad practice to use the same name for 2 different variables in nested scopes
A thousand times, this. You will save yourself so many headaches later on if you follow this advice.
One suggestion if you’re the one writing the function is to add a verb to your function names to make it clear that they’re functions. And you can always add articles to variables to make it clear. Eg `getdistance()` for a function and `a_distance` or `thedistance ` for variables.