Hi, I have a numpy array, and I want to create another variable equal to it, to back it up for later calculations, because the first array will change. But after the first array changes, the second automatically changes to the same value. An example of what happens: import numpy as np a=np.zeros((4,4)) b=a print(b) a[3,3]=3 print(' ') print(b) gives the result: [[ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.]] [[ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 3.]] As you can see, when the value of a changes, the value of b automatically changes, even when this is not asked. Is there a way of avoiding this? This problem does not happen with normal python variables. Thank you for your time. -- View this message in context: http://numpy-discussion.10968.n7.nabble.com/strange-behaviour-with-numpy-arr... Sent from the Numpy-discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
On 11.09.2013 12:33, antlarac wrote:
Hi, I have a numpy array, and I want to create another variable equal to it, to back it up for later calculations, because the first array will change. But after the first array changes, the second automatically changes to the same value. An example of what happens:
import numpy as np a=np.zeros((4,4)) b=a print(b) a[3,3]=3 print(' ') print(b)
gives the result:
[[ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.]]
[[ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 0.] [ 0. 0. 0. 3.]]
As you can see, when the value of a changes, the value of b automatically changes, even when this is not asked. Is there a way of avoiding this?
This problem does not happen with normal python variables. Thank you for your time.
this is normal, python tracks its mutable variables as references. b=a makes b a reference to a so changing a changes b too. python lists work the same way: In [1]: a = [1,2,3] In [2]: b = a In [3]: b[2] = 9 In [4]: b Out[4]: [1, 2, 9] In [5]: a Out[5]: [1, 2, 9] note that python integers and strings a not mutable, so it does not behave the same way. to avoid it make explicit copies. b = a.copy() Also note that slices of array (a[:5]) in numpy are *not* copies but views on the original array. This is different than python list slices which are shallow copies.
participants (2)
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antlarac
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Julian Taylor