What is the purpose in Python's itertools.repeat?

Question

Every use I can think of for Python\'s itertools.repeat() class, I can think of another equally (possibly more) acceptable solution to achieve the same effect. For example:<

Answer 1

As mentioned before, it works well with zip:

Another example:

from itertools import repeat

fruits = ['apples', 'oranges', 'bananas']

# Initialize inventory to zero for each fruit type.
inventory = dict( zip(fruits, repeat(0)) )

Result:

{'apples': 0, 'oranges': 0, 'bananas': 0}

To do this without repeat, I'd have to involve len(fruits).