Using scene.addRect in for loop. How do I add a variable number to the rectangle's name?

Question

First I'd like to mention that my programming experience and knowledge are very limited. I'd appreciate it if you could answer my question with actual code that I can simply copy and paste.

I am writing a plugin for QGIS in Python 2.7 using PyQt4 to create the GUI.
I'm using a for loop to create paired rectangles in a QGraphicsScene. Every iteration gives one pair of rectangles. Now I want to access these rectangles outside of the for loop, but all the rectangles on the left side are called rect_L and all on the right are called rect_R. Is there a way to add a variable number to their names? I want to call the first pair rect_L_1 and rect_R_1, the second pair rect_L_2 and rect_R_2 and so on (or something along those lines).
I hope my question is clear enough. A link to a screenshot of the QGraphicsScene as seen in QGIS and the relevant parts of the code (I think) are below. Thanks in advance.

def setupUi(self, Form):
    L = ["Forest", "Lake", "Desert"]
    changeMatrix = [[11, 12, 13], [21, 22, 23], [31, 32, 33]]
    count_i = 1

    #Form
    Form.setObjectName(_fromUtf8("Form"))
    Form.resize(600, 600)

    #Graphics View
    self.graphicsView = QtGui.QGraphicsView(Form)
    self.graphicsView.setGeometry(QtCore.QRect(50, 50, 400, 400))
    self.graphicsView.setObjectName(_fromUtf8("graphicsView"))

    #Pen, Brush, Scene
    pen = QtGui.QPen(QtGui.QColor(0, 0, 0), 3, QtCore.Qt.SolidLine)
    brush = QtGui.QBrush(QtGui.QColor(184, 36, 238))
    scene = QtGui.QGraphicsScene()

    #Boxes & Labels
    count_valid = 0
    for i in changeMatrix:
        count_j = 1
        for j in i:
            if j <> 0 and count_i <> count_j:
                textitem_L = scene.addText(L[count_j-1])
                textitem_R = scene.addText(L[count_i-1])
                textitem_L.setPos(0, count_valid*50)
                textitem_R.setPos(300, count_valid*50)
                rect_L = scene.addRect(50, count_valid*50, 25, 25, pen, brush)
                rect_R = scene.addRect(250, count_valid*50, 25, 25, pen, brush)
                rect_L.setFlags(QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsMovable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsSelectable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsFocusable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemSendsGeometryChanges)
                rect_R.setFlags(QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsMovable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsSelectable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsFocusable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemSendsGeometryChanges)
                rect_L.setAcceptsHoverEvents(True)
                rect_R.setAcceptsHoverEvents(True)
                count_valid += 1
            count_j += 1
        count_i += 1

    self.graphicsView.setScene(scene)

    #Form
    Form.setWindowTitle(_translate("Form", "MoveRect", None))

Answer 1

Use a list or two.

L_rects = []
R_rects = []
for i in changeMatrix:
    count_j = 1
    for j in i:
        if j <> 0 and count_i <> count_j:
            textitem_L = scene.addText(L[count_j-1])
            textitem_R = scene.addText(L[count_i-1])
            textitem_L.setPos(0, count_valid*50)
            textitem_R.setPos(300, count_valid*50)
            rect_L = scene.addRect(50, count_valid*50, 25, 25, pen, brush)
            rect_R = scene.addRect(250, count_valid*50, 25, 25, pen, brush)
            rect_L.setFlags(QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsMovable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsSelectable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsFocusable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemSendsGeometryChanges)
            rect_R.setFlags(QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsMovable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsSelectable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemIsFocusable | QtGui.QGraphicsItem.ItemSendsGeometryChanges)
            rect_L.setAcceptsHoverEvents(True)
            rect_R.setAcceptsHoverEvents(True)
            L_rects.append(rect_L)
            R_rects.append(rect_R)
            count_valid += 1
        count_j += 1
    count_i += 1

Now you can use indexing to access individual rect objects, ex. L_rects[2].