Why is this closure not possible in python? -

in python able access variable in outer function inner function , hence forms closure. however, not able access variable in outer class inner class this,

>>> class a: ...  a=1 ...  class b: ...    b=1 ...    def pr(self): ...     print a,b ... >>> c=a().b() >>> c.pr()     traceback (most recent call last):   file "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>   file "<stdin>", line 6, in pr nameerror: global name 'a' not defined 

why kind of closure not possible in python?

the docs say:

the scope of names defined in class block limited class block; not extend code blocks of methods

the scope of class block not extend code blocks of nested class statements.

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it's not clear (to me) trying do, here more typical pattern makes b subclass of a , allows instances of b access attributes of both b , a:

class a:     a=1  class b(a):     b=1     def pr(self):         print self.a, self.b  c = b() c.pr() 

prints

1 1