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python decompose a list

I remember I once seen a operator which is able to decompose a list in python.

for example

[[1],[2],[3]]

by applying that operator, you get

[1], [2], [3]

what is that operator, any help will be appreciated.

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Jerry Gao Avatar asked Jun 12 '11 01:06

Jerry Gao


3 Answers

If you want to pass a list of arguments to a function, you can use *, the splat operator. Here's how it works:

list = [1, 2, 3]
function_that_takes_3_arguments(*list)

If you want to assign the contents of a list to a variable, you can list unpacking:

a, b, c = list # a=1, b=2, c=3
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Evan Kroske Avatar answered Oct 20 '22 14:10

Evan Kroske


You can use the tuple function to convert a list to a tuple. A tuple with three elements isn't really any different from three separate elements, but it gives a handy way to work with all three together.

li = [[1], [2], [3]]
a, b, c = tuple(li)
print a  # [1]
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RoundTower Avatar answered Oct 20 '22 15:10

RoundTower


The correct answer to the OP's question: "what is that operator" which transforms the list [[1],[2],[3]] to [1], [2], [3] is tuple() since [1], [2], [3] is a tuple. The builtin function tuple will convert any sequence or iterable to a tuple, although there is seldom a need to do so since, as already pointed out, unpacking a list is as easy as unpacking a tuple:

a, b, c = [[1],[2],[3]]

gives the same result as

a, b, c = tuple([[1],[2],[3]])

This may not be what the OP wanted but it is the correct answer to the question as asked.

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Don O'Donnell Avatar answered Oct 20 '22 14:10

Don O'Donnell