Today I Learned
Python Making a List
Integrated with loops
list_with_for_loop = [x for x in range(10)]
print list_with_for_loop[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
Even with conditions in the for loop
list_with_for_loop_conditional = [x for x in range(10) if x%2 == 1]
print list_with_for_loop_conditional[1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
Nested loops in a list
list_with_nested_loops = [ [x, y] for x in range(3) for y in range(3) ]
print list_with_nested_loops[[0, 0], [0, 1], [0, 2], [1, 0], [1, 1], [1, 2], [2, 0], [2, 1], [2, 2]]
Another example of nested loops
list_with_nested_loops_2 = [ x for x in range(y) for y in range(3)]
print list_with_nested_loops_2[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1]
The article gives an example of how to flatten a matrix using this trick. Semantically, one would using
matrix = [[11,12],[21,22]]
row = [1,2]
wrong_flatten_of_matrix = [x for x in row for row in matrix]
print "matrix is", matrix
print "flattened matrix is", wrong_flatten_of_matrix matrix is [[11, 12], [21, 22]]
flattened matrix is [1, 1, 2, 2]
which is obviously WRONG. The correct code is given by the author as
right_flatten_of_matrix = [x for row in matrix for x in row]
print "matrix is", matrix
print "flattened matrix is", right_flatten_of_matrix matrix is [[11, 12], [21, 22]]
flattened matrix is [11, 12, 21, 22]
The key is to write the nested loops in a list as the normal nested loops.
With this possible confusion, the author proposed a line breaking solution
right_flatten_of_matrix_line_breaking = [
x
for row in matrix
for x in row
]
print "matrix is", matrix
print "flattened matrix is", right_flatten_of_matrix_line_breaking matrix is [[11, 12], [21, 22]]
flattened matrix is [11, 12, 21, 22]
which significantly improved the readability.