title: Python convert string to variable name
body: <p>Im aware that this may come up as a duplicate but so far I haven't found (or should that be understood) an answer to what Im looking for.</p>
  
  <p>I have a list of strings and want to convert each one into a variable name which I then assign something to. I understand that I may need a dict for this but I am unfamiliar with them as I am relatively new to python and all the examples I have seen so far deal with values whilst I'm trying something different.</p>
  
  <p>Im after something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>list = ['spam', 'eggs', 'ham']
  
  for i in range(len(list)):
      list[i] = rat.readColumn(ratDataset, list[i])
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>where the first list[i] is a variable name and not a string. The second list[i] is a string (and for context is the name of a column Im reading from a raster attribute table (rat))</p>
  
  <p>Essentially I want each string within the list to be set as a variable name.</p>
  
  <p>The idea behind this is that I can create a loop without having to write out the line for each variable I want, with matching rat column name (the string). Maybe there is a beer way of doing this than I am suggesting?</p>