Local variable

Local variables are variables which have a lifetime in a local or narrow scope. The declared local variable in a function or a block shadows the variable which has the same name in larger scope.^[1] Local variables are fundamental for modular programming and procedural programming. In the programming languages that have two-level visibility, local variables are mutually exclusive with global variables. Many ALGOL-derived programming languages allow more complex features for local variables.

In most languages, local variables are automatic variables stored on the call stack directly.

There is a special subgroup for local variables called static local variables. Those local variables have a local scope, meaning that they are only accessible in their respective scope, and they live in static storage, meaning that their lifetime corresponds with the programs lifetime.^[2]

References

↑ local variables in Python
↑ "Current C standard" (PDF). (3.61 MB) (as of 2009^[update]). In particular, see section 6.2.4 “Storage durations of objects”, page: 32.

[1] variables in Python

[2] "Current C standard" (PDF). (3.61 MB) (as of 2009^[update]). In particular, see section 6.2.4 “Storage durations of objects”, page: 32.

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