How to find a value in a 2d list python

Creating 2d Lists [Pre-reading]

• Static Allocation

  # create a 2d list with fixed values (static allocation) a = [ [ 2, 3, 4 ] , [ 5, 6, 7 ] ] print(a)



• Dynamic (Variable-Length) Allocation
  • Wrong: Cannot use * (Shallow Copy)

    # Try, and FAIL, to create a variable-sized 2d list rows = 3 cols = 2 a = [ [0] * cols ] * rows # Error: creates shallow copy # Creates one unique row, the rest are aliases! print("This SEEMS ok. At first:") print(" a =", a) a[0][0] = 42 print("But see what happens after a[0][0]=42") print(" a =", a)

  
  
  • Right: Append Each Row

    # Create a variable-sized 2d list rows = 3 cols = 2 a = [] for row in range(rows): a += [[0]*cols] print("This IS ok. At first:") print(" a =", a) a[0][0] = 42 print("And now see what happens after a[0][0]=42") print(" a =", a)

  
  
  • Another good option: use a list comprehension

    rows = 3 cols = 2 #This is what's called a "list comprehension" a = [ ([0] * cols) for row in range(rows) ] print("This IS ok. At first:") print(" a =", a) a[0][0] = 42 print("And now see what happens after a[0][0]=42") print(" a =", a)



• Best option: make2dList()

  def make2dList(rows, cols): return [ ([0] * cols) for row in range(rows) ] rows = 3 cols = 2 a = make2dList(rows, cols) print("This IS ok. At first:") print(" a =", a) a[0][0] = 42 print("And now see what happens after a[0][0]=42") print(" a =", a)

Getting 2d List Dimensions [Pre-reading]

# Create an "arbitrary" 2d List a = [ [ 2, 3, 5] , [ 1, 4, 7 ] ] print("a = ", a) # Now find its dimensions rows = len(a) cols = len(a[0]) print("rows =", rows) print("cols =", cols)

Copying and Aliasing 2d Lists [Pre-reading]

• Wrong: Cannot use copy.copy (shallow copy)

  import copy # Create a 2d list a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 6 ] ] # Try to copy it b = copy.copy(a) # Error: creates shallow copy # At first, things seem ok print("At first...") print(" a =", a) print(" b =", b) # Now modify a[0][0] a[0][0] = 9 print("But after a[0][0] = 9") print(" a =", a) print(" b =", b)



• Right: use copy.deepcopy

  import copy # Create a 2d list a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 6 ] ] # Try to copy it b = copy.deepcopy(a) # Correct! # At first, things seem ok print("At first...") print(" a =", a) print(" b =", b) # Now modify a[0][0] a[0][0] = 9 print("And after a[0][0] = 9") print(" a =", a) print(" b =", b)



• Limitations of copy.deepcopy

  a = [[0]*2]*3 # makes 3 shallow copies of (aliases of) the same row a[0][0] = 42 # appears to modify all 3 rows print(a) # prints [[42, 0], [42, 0], [42, 0]] # now do it again with a deepcopy import copy a = [[0]*2]*3 # makes 3 shallow copies of the same row a = copy.deepcopy(a) # meant to make each row distinct a[0][0] = 42 # so we hope this only modifies first row print(a) # STILL prints [[42, 0], [42, 0], [42, 0]] # deepcopy preserves any already-existing aliases perfectly! # best answer: don't create aliases in the first place, unless you want them.



• Advanced: alias-breaking deepcopy

  # Advanced: now one more time with a simple deepcopy alternative that does # what we thought deepcopy did... # NOTE: this uses recursion. We'll go over how that works in the future. import copy def myDeepCopy(a): if (isinstance(a, list) or isinstance(a, tuple)): # List comprehesion version # return [myDeepCopy(element) for element in a] deepCopy = [] for element in a: deepCopy.append(myDeepCopy(element)) return deepCopy else: return copy.copy(a) a = [[0]*2]*3 # makes 3 shallow copies of the same row a = myDeepCopy(a) # once again, meant to make each row distinct a[0][0] = 42 # so we hope this only modifies first row print(a) # finally, prints [[42, 0], [0, 0], [0, 0]] # now all the aliases are gone!

Printing 2d Lists [Pre-reading]

1. Basic Version:

   # Here are two helpful functions: # repr2dList(L): returns a nicely-formatted multiline string, and # print2dList(L): prints a 2d list in that nicely-formatted way ####################################### def repr2dList(L): if (L == []): return '[]' output = [ ] rows = len(L) cols = max([len(L[row]) for row in range(rows)]) M = [['']*cols for row in range(rows)] for row in range(rows): for col in range(len(L[row])): M[row][col] = repr(L[row][col]) colWidths = [0] * cols for col in range(cols): colWidths[col] = max([len(M[row][col]) for row in range(rows)]) output.append('[\n') for row in range(rows): output.append(' [ ') for col in range(cols): if (col > 0): output.append(', ' if col < len(L[row]) else ' ') output.append(M[row][col].rjust(colWidths[col])) output.append((' ],' if row < rows-1 else ' ]') + '\n') output.append(']') return ''.join(output) def print2dList(L): print(repr2dList(L)) ####################################### # Let's give the new function a try! L = [ [ 1, 23, 'a' ] , [ 4, 5, 6789, 10, 100 ] ] assert(repr2dList(L) == '''\ [ [ 1, 23, 'a' ], [ 4, 5, 6789, 10, 100 ] ]''') print2dList(L)



2. Fancy Version (with outline and row and col labels):

   # Helper function for print2dList. # This finds the maximum length of the string # representation of any item in the 2d list def maxItemLength(a): maxLen = 0 for row in range(len(a)): for col in range(len(a[row])): maxLen = max(maxLen, len(repr(a[row][col]))) return maxLen def print2dList(a): if a == []: print([]) return print() rows, cols = len(a), len(a[0]) maxCols = max([len(row) for row in a]) fieldWidth = max(maxItemLength(a), len(f'col={maxCols-1}')) rowLabelSize = 5 + len(str(rows-1)) rowPrefix = ' '*rowLabelSize+' ' rowSeparator = rowPrefix + '|' + ('-'*(fieldWidth+3) + '|')*maxCols print(rowPrefix, end=' ') # Prints the column labels centered for col in range(maxCols): print(f'col={col}'.center(fieldWidth+2), end=' ') print('\n' + rowSeparator) for row in range(rows): # Prints the row labels print(f'row={row}'.center(rowLabelSize), end=' | ') # Prints each item of the row flushed-right but the same width for col in range(len(a[row])): print(repr(a[row][col]).center(fieldWidth+1), end=' | ') # Prints out missing cells in each column in case the list is ragged missingCellChar = chr(10006) for col in range(len(a[row]), maxCols): print(missingCellChar*(fieldWidth+1), end=' | ') print('\n' + rowSeparator) print() # Let's give the new function a try! a = [ [ 1, -1023, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 678 ] ] b = [ [123, 4567, 891011], [567890, 'ABC'], ['Amazing!', True, '', -3.14, None]] print2dList(a) print2dList(b)

Nested Looping over 2d Lists [Pre-reading]

# Create an "arbitrary" 2d List a = [ [ 2, 3, 5] , [ 1, 4, 7 ] ] print("Before: a =", a) # Now find its dimensions rows = len(a) cols = len(a[0]) # And now loop over every element # Here, we'll add one to each element, # just to make a change we can easily see for row in range(rows): for col in range(cols): # This code will be run rows*cols times, once for each # element in the 2d list a[row][col] += 1 # Finally, print the results print("After: a =", a)

Accessing 2d Lists by Row or Column [Pre-reading]

• Accessing a whole row

  # alias (not a copy! no new list created) a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 6 ] ] row = 1 rowList = a[row] print(rowList)



• Accessing a whole column

  # copy (not an alias! new list created) a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 6 ] ] col = 1 colList = [ ] for i in range(len(a)): colList += [ a[i][col] ] print(colList)



• Accessing a whole column with a list comprehension

  # still a copy, but cleaner with a list comprehension! a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5, 6 ] ] col = 1 colList = [ a[i][col] for i in range(len(a)) ] print(colList)

Non-Rectangular ("Ragged") 2d Lists [Pre-reading]

# 2d lists do not have to be rectangular a = [ [ 1, 2, 3 ] , [ 4, 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7, 8, 9, 10 ] ] rows = len(a) for row in range(rows): cols = len(a[row]) # now cols depends on each row print("Row", row, "has", cols, "columns: ", end="") for col in range(cols): print(a[row][col], " ", end="") print()

3d Lists

# 2d lists do not really exist in Python. # They are just lists that happen to contain other lists as elements. # And so this can be done for "3d lists", or even "4d" or higher-dimensional lists. # And these can also be non-rectangular, of course! a = [ [ [ 1, 2 ], [ 3, 4 ] ], [ [ 5, 6, 7 ], [ 8, 9 ] ], [ [ 10 ] ] ] for i in range(len(a)): for j in range(len(a[i])): for k in range(len(a[i][j])): print(f'a[{i}][{j}][{k}] = {a[i][j][k]}')

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