How do I find the duplicates in a list and create another list with them?

Question

How can I find the duplicates in a Python list and create another list of the duplicates? The list only contains integers.

Answer 1

Here's a fast generator that uses a dict to store each element as a key with a boolean value for checking if the duplicate item has already been yielded.

For lists with all elements that are hashable types:

def gen_dupes(array):
    unique = {}
    for value in array:
        if value in unique and unique[value]:
            unique[value] = False
            yield value
        else:
            unique[value] = True

array = [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 6]
print(list(gen_dupes(array)))
# => [2, 1, 6]

For lists that might contain lists:

def gen_dupes(array):
    unique = {}
    for value in array:
        is_list = False
        if type(value) is list:
            value = tuple(value)
            is_list = True

        if value in unique and unique[value]:
            unique[value] = False
            if is_list:
                value = list(value)

            yield value
        else:
            unique[value] = True

array = [1, 2, 2, [1, 2], 3, 4, [1, 2], 5, 2, 6, 6]
print(list(gen_dupes(array)))
# => [2, [1, 2], 6]