In Python, when you create a copy of a mutable object (such as a list or dictionary), you can either create a shallow copy or a deep copy.
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A shallow copy creates a new object, but the contents of the object are still references to the original object. This means that if you modify a value in the original object, it will also be modified in the shallow copy. A shallow copy can be created using the slice operator ([:]), the copy() method, or the list() or dict() constructor.
original_list = [1, 2, [3, 4]] shallow_copy = original_list.copy() original_list[2][0] = 5 print(original_list) # Output: [1, 2, [5, 4]] print(shallow_copy) # Output: [1, 2, [5, 4]]
A deep copy creates a new object with new contents. This means that if you modify a value in the original object, it will not be modified in the deep copy. A deep copy can be created using the deepcopy() function from the copy module.
import copy original_list = [1, 2, [3, 4]] deep_copy = copy.deepcopy(original_list) original_list[2][0] = 5 print(original_list) # Output: [1, 2, [5, 4]] print(deep_copy) # Output: [1, 2, [3, 4]]
As you can see from the examples, a shallow copy creates a new object, but the contents are still references to the original object, while a deep copy creates a new object with new contents. Which copy to use depends on your specific use case and what you want to achieve with the copied object.
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