swap 2 variables
>>> a = 1
>>> b = 2
>>> a
2
>>> b
1
reason :
In other languages you need to keep an intermediate variable to accomplish this.
reference:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14836228/is-there-a-standardized-method-to-swap-two-variables-in-python/14836456#14836456
In python , two variables values swapped using this syntax:
left, right = right, left
Python evaluates expressions from left to right. Notice that while evaluating an assignment, the right-hand side is evaluated before the left-hand side.
That means the following for the expression a,b = b,a
:
- The right-hand side
b,a
is evaluated, that is to say, a tuple of two elements is created in the memory. The two elements are the objects designated by the identifiersb
anda
, that were existing before the instruction is encountered during the execution of the program. - Just after the creation of this tuple, no assignment of this tuple object has still been made, but it doesn't matter, Python internally knows where it is.
- Then, the left-hand side is evaluated, that is to say, the tuple is assigned to the left-hand side.
- As the left-hand side is composed of two identifiers, the tuple is unpacked in order that the first identifier
a
be assigned to the first element of the tuple (which is the object that was formerly b before the swap because it had nameb
)
and the second identifierb
is assigned to the second element of the tuple (which is the object that was formerly a before the swap because its identifiers wasa
)
This mechanism has effectively swapped the objects assigned to the identifiers a
and b
So, to answer your question: YES, it's the standard way to swap two identifiers on two objects.
By the way, the objects are not variables, they are objects.
I know three ways to swap variables, but a, b = b, a
is the simplest. There is
XOR (for integers)
x = x ^ y
y = y ^ x
x = x ^ y
Or concisely,
x ^= y
y ^= x
x ^= y
Temporary variable
w = x
x = y
y = w
del w
Tuple swap
x, y = y, x
I would not say it is a standard way to swap because it will cause some unexpected errors.
nums[i], nums[nums[i] - 1] = nums[nums[i] - 1], nums[i]
nums[i]
will be modified first and then affect the second variable nums[nums[i] - 1]
.
Does not work for multidimensional arrays, because references are used here.
import numpy as np
# swaps
data = np.random.random(2)
print(data)
data[0], data[1] = data[1], data[0]
print(data)
# does not swap
data = np.random.random((2, 2))
print(data)
data[0], data[1] = data[1], data[0]
print(data)
To get around the problems explained by eyquem, you could use the copy
module to return a tuple containing (reversed) copies of the values, via a function:
from copy import copy
def swapper(x, y):
return (copy(y), copy(x))
Same function as a lambda
:
swapper = lambda x, y: (copy(y), copy(x))
Then, assign those to the desired names, like this:
x, y = swapper(y, x)
NOTE: if you wanted to you could import/use deepcopy
instead of copy
.
exceptions / challenges on the syntax
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