how to duplicate array entries

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:21:54 -0800, Sebastian wrote:

> Hi there,
> 
> I have an array  x=[1,2,3]

You have a list. Python has an array type, but you have to "import array" 
to use it.


> Is there an operator which I can use to get the result
> [1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3] ?

Not an operator, but you can do it easily with a function. Here's the 
simple version:

>>> def duplicate(items, count):
...     L = []
...     for item in items:
...         L.extend([item]*count)
...     return L
...
>>> duplicate([1,2,3], 3)
[1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3]



Here's a version which is short and simple enough to use in-line, but 
will be slow for large lists:


>>> x = [1,2,3]
>>> count = 3
>>> sum([[item]*count for item in x], [])
[1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3]


Finally, here's a nasty hack that you should never, ever, ever use for 
any reason except to win a bet:


>>> [locals()['_[1]'].extend([item]*(count-1)) or item for item in x]
[1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3]



-- 
Steven