gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable by Yashp002 · Pull Request #143549 · python/cpython · GitHub

Expose cell status in symtable.Symbol via new is_cell() predicate and add get_cells() method to SymbolTable.

Changes

Added Symbol.is_cell() method that returns True if the symbol has the CELL flag.
Added SymbolTable.get_cells() method that returns an iterable of cell variable names.
Added test_cells to Lib/test/test_symtable.py to verify the new API.

Tests

Added test_cells test using a closure pattern (outer -> inner accessing x).

Issue: expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable #143504

Co-authored-by: AN Long <aisk@users.noreply.github.com>

I'll fix this in a while, my apologies for quite a big fault in the code actually

Let's put this test next to test_free.

This probably belongs next to get_frees.

@iritkatriel I was forced to force push the symtable branch due to me updating the branch before for the CI.

Why does this not follow the pattern of get_frees and get_nonlocals?

We'll have to use the _cells variable then, I'll add it.

the other tests don't do all this. Can we follow the same pattern in this one?

@iritkatriel I've implemented the change in symtable.py with get_cells

But the current test_cells seems to be the only one that keeps working after I've change it up quite a few times.

Is it really a requirement for it all to have the same pattern?

Unless there's a reason why we can't, then we should follow the same pattern. What's the difference between the cases?

self.internal has x as FREE var (for test_free). we need x as CELL var (outer scope). setUp doesn't have that so inline code is needed. However I've removed the unnecessary comments and changed the rest of it to

    top=symtable.symtable(code,"?","exec")
    outer = find_block(top, "outer")
    self.assertEqual(outer.get_cells(), ["x"])
    self.assertTrue(outer.lookup("x").is_cell())
    self.assertFalse(outer.lookup("inner").is_cell()) to use assert.Equal,true and false like the rest of the functions.
    
    WOuld this be satisfactory as a commit?

self.spam.lookup("x").is_cell()

and get_cells test should be next to get_frees test.

and get_cells test should be next to get_frees test.

isn't test_cells already next to test_free?

get_cells is not tested at all.

Add it to test_function_info:

@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ def test_function_info(self):
         self.assertEqual(sorted(func.get_locals()), expected)
         self.assertEqual(sorted(func.get_globals()), ["bar", "glob", "some_assigned_global_var"])
         self.assertEqual(self.internal.get_frees(), ("x",))
+        self.assertEqual(self.spam.get_cells(), ("some_var", "x",))

Can you also update symtable.rst? and add a What's New entry? (I did so for what I changed in 3.14)

And once you update the docs, update the NEWS entry to point them to

Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: Bénédikt Tran <10796600+picnixz@users.noreply.github.com>

try formatting like the entry for get_frees with :term:

There are two News files now

Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

Please add the versionadded directive as well

Remove the extra empty line

Co-authored-by: Bénédikt Tran <10796600+picnixz@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

Thank you @Yashp002

@iritkatriel , @picnixz Thanks for the help

…43549)

symtable commit

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bedevere-app Bot added the awaiting review label Jan 8, 2026

Yashp002 changed the title bpo-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable (GH-143504) gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable (GH-143504) Jan 8, 2026

bedevere-app Bot mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable #143504

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aisk reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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Comment thread Lib/symtable.py

Yashp002 and others added 2 commits January 8, 2026 16:17

symtable fix 1

0b676e4

Co-authored-by: AN Long <aisk@users.noreply.github.com>

symtable fix 2- news

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Yashp002 added 2 commits January 21, 2026 15:51

symtable fix 3

17072bd

symtable fix 4

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 21, 2026

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 21, 2026

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Yashp002 added 2 commits January 21, 2026 23:27

symtable fix 5

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symtable fix 5

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Yashp002 force-pushed the symtable branch from bb93117 to 5c558f4 Compare January 21, 2026 18:00

Merge branch 'main' into symtable

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 21, 2026

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Yashp002 added 2 commits January 22, 2026 15:53

symtable fix 6

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symtable fix 6

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 23, 2026

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picnixz reviewed Jan 23, 2026

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picnixz changed the title gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable (GH-143504) gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable Jan 23, 2026

Yashp002 and others added 3 commits January 24, 2026 13:24

symtable fix 7

54c8de1

Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

symtable fix 8

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Co-authored-by: Bénédikt Tran <10796600+picnixz@users.noreply.github.com>

symtable fix 8

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Co-authored-by: Bénédikt Tran <10796600+picnixz@users.noreply.github.com>

iritkatriel reviewed Jan 24, 2026

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symtable fix 9

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Yashp002 requested a review from AA-Turner as a code owner January 24, 2026 11:39

Yashp002 added 2 commits January 24, 2026 17:16

symtable fix 10

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symtable fix 10

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 24, 2026

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 24, 2026

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Yashp002 and others added 4 commits January 24, 2026 20:56

symtable fix

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Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

Update Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst

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Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

symtable fix 11

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symtable fix 11

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picnixz reviewed Jan 24, 2026

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Yashp002 and others added 3 commits January 25, 2026 12:22

Update Doc/library/symtable.rst

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Co-authored-by: Bénédikt Tran <10796600+picnixz@users.noreply.github.com>

symtable fix 12

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symtable fix 12

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iritkatriel reviewed Jan 25, 2026

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Yashp002 and others added 2 commits January 25, 2026 18:44

Update Lib/symtable.py

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Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

Update Doc/library/symtable.rst

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Co-authored-by: Irit Katriel <1055913+iritkatriel@users.noreply.github.com>

iritkatriel approved these changes Jan 25, 2026

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Merge branch 'main' into symtable

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iritkatriel enabled auto-merge (squash) January 25, 2026 13:18

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iritkatriel merged commit a51bf70 into python:main Jan 25, 2026
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thunder-coding pushed a commit to thunder-coding/cpython that referenced this pull request Feb 15, 2026

pythongh-143504 : Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable (python#1…

f3c5bfb

…43549)

+                      code="""def outer():
+                                  x=1
+                                  def inner():
+                                      return x"""

+                  def get_cells(self):
+                      """Return a list of cell variable names in the table."""
+                      return [s.get_name() for s in self.get_symbols() if s.is_cell()]

		self.assertFalse(outer.lookup("inner").is_cell())
		self.assertTrue(self.spam.lookup("x").is_cell())


		.. method:: get_cells()

		Return a tuple containing the names of cell variables in this table.

		@@ -0,0 +1 @@
		Add symtable.is_cell() and get_cells() methods for cell variable analysis.

                     Return a tuple containing names of :term:`free (closure) variables <closure variable>`
                     in this function.
+                 .. method:: get_cells()

		@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
		Add :meth:`symtable.Function.get_cells` and :meth:`symtable.Symbol.is_cell` methods.

gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable by Yashp002 · Pull Request #143549 · python/cpython · GitHub

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gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable - #143549

gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable#143549iritkatriel merged 27 commits intopython:mainpython/cpython:mainfrom Yashp002:symtableYashp002/cpython:symtableCopy head branch name to clipboard

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gh-143504: Expose CELL status of a symbol in symtable#143549
iritkatriel merged 27 commits into
python:mainfrom
Yashp002:symtable

Yashp002 commented Jan 8, 2026 •
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