How to Fix Python TypeError: Function Object Is Not Subscriptable

1. Fix Function Object TypeError in Python
2. Fix Function Object TypeError With Empty List in Python

This article discusses why we get an error that is TypeError: 'function' object is not subscriptable and how we can fix this error in Python.

Fix Function Object TypeError in Python

If you’re a beginner in programming, you may encounter errors in running a program. Sometimes you try to fix this error but find it hard because you are not trying to understand why this error occurs during execution.

For example, suppose we have a list of employees and want to wrap it inside the function to reuse it later inside the class or module. When we call this function, we get an error that says TypeError: 'function' object is not subscriptable.

Example Code:

Employee_Name = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]


def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        print(n[i])


Employee_Name(Employee_Name)

Output:

TypeError: 'function' object is not subscriptable

In the above Python script, we loop the list of items, and the error occurs because we pass a function inside the function instead of a list.

The n variable contains a function, and inside the loop, when we try to access an index of the n variable, we get the error because we can not access an index from an object that is not subscriptable or iterable.

Beginners tend to fix it, but others may get a different error, like in the following output.

Example Code:

def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        print(n[i])


Employee_Name = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]

Employee_Name(Employee_Name)

Output:

TypeError: 'list' object is not callable

Thinking that the error can be fixed if a list is declared after defining the function even though the function and list have the same name. After running the code, the user gets another error.

The reason is that during a variable declaration, the Employee_Name function name is overridden with a variable that is a list, and we can not call a list. The simple solution is never to use the same name with another object you have used for a function.

Example Code:

def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        print(n[i])


Employee_Names = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]

Employee_Name(Employee_Names)

We changed the variable name Employee_Name to Employee_Names.

Output:

Max
Harry
Ben
Simon
Thomas

Fix Function Object TypeError With Empty List in Python

Another reason is to get the TypeError: 'function' object is not subscriptable when we try to make an empty list of the list for any reason. Let’s look at an example.

Example Code:

Empty_List = []


def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        Empty_List.append(n[i])

    return Empty_List


Employee_Names = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]

print(Employee_Name[Employee_Names])

Output:

TypeError: 'function' object is not subscriptable

When we call the function, we must put the opening and closing function brackets((function)) in the function name. Suppose we put square brackets([function]) in it, which is against the behavior of a function for calling it using square brackets.

Some users make another mistake because they want a list of a list. When they try to fix that inside the opening and closing brackets, they pass a list within square brackets and get another error.

Example Error:

Empty_List = []


def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        Empty_List.append(n[i])

    return Empty_List


Employee_Names = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]

print(Employee_Name([Employee_Names]))

Output:

IndexError: list index out of range

One reason for getting this error is passing a list of a list with 1 length, and its index goes out of range when we iterate it inside the for loop. The simple solution is instead of using square brackets inside the function ([Employee_Names]), we need to put square brackets within the Empty_List variable where we are returning it.

Example Code:

Empty_List = []


def Employee_Name(n):
    for i in range(5):
        Empty_List.append(n[i])

    return [Empty_List]


Employee_Names = ["Max", "Harry", "Ben", "Simon", "Thomas"]

print(Employee_Name(Employee_Names))

Output:

[['Max', 'Harry', 'Ben', 'Simon', 'Thomas']]