[Tutor] Explanation of Lists data Type

[Alan Gauld]

Kaushal,

> 8.7 List slices

You might find it worth going through the official tutor section 
on slicing, it explains the various forms quite well.

>>> list[:4]  -->  Does this mean its list[0:4]

Sort of, it means from *the beginning* to 4.

>>> list[3:] -->  Does this mean its list[3:0]

No it means from 3 to *the end*

>>> list[:] -->  Does this mean its list[0:0]

No, it means from *the beginning* to *the end*

These are all just shortcut conventions that you need to learn.
Another one that can be confusing is negative slices:

list[-3:]

means from the -3 position(ie 3 from the end) to the end

list[3:-3] 

means from the 3rd position to the -3 position

I find it helps to thingk of the collection organised as a ring 
with the counter sitting between the items. Thus zero sits 
between the first and last items. Unfortunately this breaks down if you do

list [-3:3]

which is an error but is not reported as such, rathger it returns 
an empty list!

Basically, play with them a lot and you will get used to their 
little oddities, the huge benefits outweigh the occasional confusion.

HTH,

Alan G
Author of the learn to program web tutor
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld