Wrapping around a list as a slice operation

Question

Consider the following simple python code

>>> L = range(3)
>>> L
[0, 1, 2]

We can take slices of this array as follows:

Answer 1

If you are not overly attached to the exact slicing syntax, you can write a function that produces the desired output including the wrapping behavior.

E.g., like this:

def wrapping_slice(lst, *args):
    return [lst[i%len(lst)] for i in range(*args)]

Example output:

>>> L = range(3)
>>> wrapping_slice(L, 1, 4)
[1, 2, 0]
>>> wrapping_slice(L, -1, 4)
[2, 0, 1, 2, 0]
>>> wrapping_slice(L, -1, 4, 2)
[2, 1, 0]

Caveat: You can't use this on the left-hand side of a slice assignment.