How to copy data from a numpy array to another

Question

What is the fastest way to copy data from array b to array a, without modifying the address of array a. I need this because an external library (PyFFTW) uses a pointer to my

Answer 1

you can easy use:

b = 1*a

this is the fastest way, but also have some problems. If you don't define directly the dtype of a and also doesn't check the dtype of b you can get into trouble. For example:

a = np.arange(10)        # dtype = int64
b = 1*a                  # dtype = int64

a = np.arange(10.)       # dtype = float64
b = 1*a                  # dtype = float64

a = np.arange(10)        # dtype = int64
b = 1. * a               # dtype = float64

I hope, I could make the point clear. Sometimes you will have a data type change with just one little operation.