On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Richard D. Moores <rdmoo...@gmail.com> wrote: > from <http://docs.python.org/py3k/tutorial/introduction.html#lists> : > >>>> # Clear the list: replace all items with an empty list >>>> a[:] = [] >>>> a > [] > > I've been using >>>> a = [] >>>> a > [] > > What's the difference?
a = [] This sets the variable "a" to refer to a new list a[:] = [] This replaces the existing content of a with empty contents. Check out this example in interactive mode >>> a = [1,2,3] >>> b = a >>> a = [] >>> print a [] >>> print b [1, 2, 3] Versus: >>> a = [1,2,3] >>> b = a >>> a[:] = [] >>> print a [] >>> print b [] -- Brett Ritter / SwiftOne swift...@swiftone.org _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor