using zip() and dictionaries

[Sneaky Wombat]

quick update,

#change this line:
for (k,v) in zip(header,[[]]*len(header)):
#to this line:
for (k,v) in zip(header,[[],[],[],[]]):

and it works as expected.  Something about the [[]]*len(header) is
causing the weird behavior.  I'm probably using it wrong, but if
anyone can explain why that would happen, i'd appreciate it.  My guess
is that it's iterating through the the whole dictionary because of the
value on the right in zip().


On Apr 30, 12:45 pm, Sneaky Wombat <> wrote:
> I'm really confused by what is happening here.  If I use zip(), I
> can't update individual dictionary elements like I usually do.  It
> updates all of the dictionary elements.  It's hard to explain, so here
> is some output from an interactive session:
>
> In [52]: header=['a','b','c','d']
> In [53]: columnMap={}
> In [54]: for (k,v) in zip(header,[[]]*len(header)):
>    ....:     #print "%s,%s"%(k,v)
>    ....:     columnMap[k] = v
>    ....:
> In [55]: columnMap
> Out[55]: {'a': [], 'b': [], 'c': [], 'd': []}
> In [56]: columnMap['a'].append('something')
> In [57]: columnMap
> Out[57]:
> {'a': ['something'],
>  'b': ['something'],
>  'c': ['something'],
>  'd': ['something']}
>
> Why does ['something'] get attached to all columnMap elements instead
> of just element 'a'?
>
> In [58]: columnMap={'a': [], 'b': [], 'c': [], 'd': []}
> In [59]: columnMap['a'].append('something')
> In [60]: columnMap
> Out[60]: {'a': ['something'], 'b': [], 'c': [], 'd': []}
>
> creating the dictionary without using zip, it works as normal.