Python - List Copy, Slice Entire List

Copy list. A list references a region of memory. When assigned, the list reference itself is copied. In Python we can instead copy elements into a new list.

String List

Syntax notes. We sometimes need instead to copy all the elements of a list into a new list. The new list then can be independently modified.

Slice example. We use the slice syntax to copy a list. When the start and end numbers are omitted, we consider the slice to equal the entire list.

Slice

Tip This is the shortest syntax form. It requires only a list reference and 3 characters.

# A list: list1 = [10, 20, 30] # Copy list1 with slice syntax. list2 = list1[:] # Modify list2. list2[0] = 0 print(list1) print(list2)

[10, 20, 30] [0, 20, 30]

Extend. Next, we use the extend method to copy a list. We first need to allocate a new, empty list. Then we extend that empty list (list2) with the original list.

Note This approach requires two lines. It is also less efficient. Please see the benchmark section.

list1 = [10, 20, 30] # Create empty list, then extend it. list2 = [] list2.extend(list1) # The lists are separate. list2[0] = 0 print(list1) print(list2)

[10, 20, 30] [0, 20, 30]

Performance. Here we consider performance of list copying. The list contains five numbers. We use while-loops to repeatedly copy those five elements.

while

Version 1 This Python code tests the slice syntax. An entire list is copied with by using an unspecified start and end.

Version 2 This code uses the extend method (after creating an empty list). We repeat these operations ten million times.

Result Taking a slice to copy a list is faster. It required just 4.7 seconds, versus 5.3 for the extend method version.

import time list1 = [100, 200, 300, 400, 500] print(time.time()) # Version 1: slice i = 0 while < 10000000: list2 = list1[:] i += 1 print(time.time()) # Version 2: extend i = 0 while i < 10000000: list2 = [] list2.extend(list1) i += 1 print(time.time())

1395252155.968703 1395252160.704971 Slice = 4.736 s 1395252166.045275 Extend = 5.340 s

Summary. A full-list slice is a good way to copy a list. It requires the least amount of syntax. And it performs faster than the alternative approach that uses the extend method.

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This page was last updated on Oct 22, 2021 (image).

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