title: Python: dynamic list names
body: <p>I'm trying to put together a file that accepts inputs from a user as to a number of text files they want analyzed. As a first step, I want to just take the contents of each document they input (can be any number, no limit) and record the contents of each line of the document as an item in a list. I'd like to have a separate list for each document that the user inputs, but that is where I'm struggling. Below is what I've got so far.</p>
  
  <pre><code>def user_input():
      prompt = raw_input("Please input the full name (e.g. text_file.txt) or path of a text file:")
      global lst
      lst = {}
      lst[0] = prompt
      global file_count
      file_count = 1
      while len(prompt) &gt; 0:
          prompt = raw_input("Please input any additional text files or simply press enter to continue:")
          if len(prompt) &gt; 0:
              lst[file_count] = prompt
              file_count = file_count+1
      return lst
  
  def read_in():
      for x in lst.values():
          file = open(x)
          x = file.readlines()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm stuck at this part now as I'm not sure how to dynamically assign names to each list. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!</p>