Add an object to a python list

Question

I am trying to add an object to a list but since I\'m adding the actual object when I try to reset the list thereafter, all the values in the list are reset. Is there an act

Answer 1

You need to create a copy of the list before you modify its contents. A quick shortcut to duplicate a list is this:

mylist[:]

Example:

>>> first = [1,2,3]
>>> second = first[:]
>>> second.append(4)
>>> first
[1, 2, 3]
>>> second
[1, 2, 3, 4]

And to show the default behavior that would modify the orignal list (since a name in Python is just a reference to the underlying object):

>>> first = [1,2,3]
>>> second = first
>>> second.append(4)
>>> first
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> second
[1, 2, 3, 4]

Note that this only works for lists. If you need to duplicate the contents of a dictionary, you must use copy.deepcopy() as suggested by others.