John Salerno wrote: > Given: > > numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] > > can someone explain to me why > > numbers[10:0:-2] results in [10, 8, 6, 4, 2]?
I've filed a bug report: http://bugs.python.org/1446619 I suggest the following rewording for extended slices: """ To get the slice of s from i to j with step k, first determine the bounds. If k is positive, and i or j is greater than len(s), use len(s). If k is negative, and i or j is greater than len(s)-1, use len(s)-1. Note, k cannot be zero. If i or j are omitted then they become ``end'' values (which end depends on the sign of k). The slice of s from i to j with step k is then defined as the sequence of items with index x = i + n*k such that 0 <= n < (j - i)/k. In other words, the indices are i, i+k, i+2*k, i+3*k and so on, stopping when j is reached (but never including j). """ I believe that properly explains the behavior, but if I've messed it up (entirely likely), please suggest alternate wording on the bug report. STeVe -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list