Python: copying a list the right way

new = old[:]

Those proficient in Python know what the previous line do. It copies the list old into new. This is confusing for beginners and should be avoided. Sadly the [:] notation is widely used, probably because most Python programmers don’t know a better way of copying lists.

A little bit of pythonic theory

First we need to understand how Python manages objects & variables. Python doesn’t have variables like C. In C a variable is not just a name, it is a set of bits; a variable exists somewhere in memory. In Python variables are just tags attached to objects.

Consider the following statement:

a = [1, 2, 3]

It means that a points to the list [1, 2, 3] we just created, but a is not the list. If we do:

b = a

We didn’t copy the list referenced by a. We just created a new tag b and attached it to the list pointed by a. Like in the picture below:

If you modify a, you also modify b, since they point to the same list:

>>> a.append(4)

>>> print a
[1, 2, 3, 4]

>>> print b
[1, 2, 3, 4]

The built-in function id() helps keeping track of all this. It returns the object’s unique id. This id is the object’s memory address.

>>> id(a)
3080501452L

>>> id(b)
3080501452L

>>> c = []  # Create a new list
>>> id(c)
3080609228L

a and b really do point to the same memory address. c points to a new empty list, different from the one referenced by a and b.

Back to our list

Now we want to copy the list referenced by a. We need to create a new list to attach b to it.

That bring use back to new = old[:]. The operator [:] returns a slice of a sequence. Slicing a portion of a list: create a new list, and copy the portion of the original list into this new list.

>>> a = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> a[1:3]
[2, 3]

>>> id(a)
3080104140L

>>> id(a[1:3])
3080513612L

If you omit the first index, the slice starts at the beginning of the list; omit the second index, it stops at the end of the list.

>>> a[:3]
[1, 2, 3]

>>> a[1:]
[2, 3, 4]

By calling a[:], you get a slice of a starting from the beginning and finishing at the end. That’s a full copy of a. But it’s not the only way of copying lists. What about this one?

>>> b = list(a)

>>> id(a)
3080104140L

>>> id(b)
3080520556L

Isn’t it better, less cryptic, and more pythonic? a[:] feels a bit too much like Perl. Unlike with the slicing notation, those who don’t know Python will understand that b contains a list.

list() is the list constructor. It will construct a new list based of the passed sequence. The sequence doesn’t necessarily need to be a list, it can be any kind of sequence.

>>> my_tuple = (1, 2, 3)
>>> my_list = list(my_tuple)
>>> print my_list
[1, 2, 3]

And it works with generators. [:] doesn’t work on generators since they are unsubscriptable —you can’t do generator[0], for example.

>>> generator = (x * 3 for x in range(4))
>>> list(generator)
[0, 3, 6, 9]

90% of the time [:] could be replaced by list(). Of course it won’t work for everything since the two are not strictly equivalent, but it is worth trying. Next time you see a [:] try to replace it with list, your code should be more readable. Do it, the devil is in the details.