[newbie] confusion concerning fetching an element in a 2d-array

[Jean Dubois]

Op dinsdag 25 maart 2014 17:12:12 UTC+1 schreef Peter Otten:
> Jean Dubois wrote:
> > Op dinsdag 25 maart 2014 12:01:37 UTC+1 schreef Steven D'Aprano:
> >> On Tue, 25 Mar 2014 03:26:26 -0700, Jean Dubois wrote:
> >>
> >> > I'm confused by the behaviour of the following python-script I wrote:
> >> > 
> >> > #!/usr/bin/env python
> >> > #I first made a data file 'test.dat' with the following content
> >> > #1.0 2 3
> >> > #4 5 6.0
> >> > #7 8 9
> >> > import numpy as np
> >> > lines=[line.strip() for line in open('test.dat')]
> >> > #convert lines-list to numpy-array
> >> > array_lines=np.array(lines)
> >> > #fetch element at 2nd row, 2nd column:
> >> > print array_lines[1, 1]
> >> > 
> >> > 
> >> > When running the script I always get the following error: IndexError:
> >> > invalid index
> >> > 
> >> > Can anyone here explain me what I am doing wrong and how to fix it?
> >>
> >> Yes. Inspect the array by printing it, and you'll see that it is a one-
> >> dimensional array, not two, and the entries are strings:
> >>
> >>
> >> py> import numpy as np
> >> py> # simulate a text file
> >> ... data = """1.0 2 3
> >> ... 4 5 6.0
> >> ... 7 8 9"""
> >> py> lines=[line.strip() for line in data.split('\n')]
> >> py> # convert lines-list to numpy-array
> >> ... array_lines = np.array(lines)
> >> py> print array_lines
> >> ['1.0 2 3' '4 5 6.0' '7 8 9']
> >>
> >>
> >> The interactive interpreter is your friend! You never need to guess what
> >> the problem is, Python has powerful introspection abilities, one of the
> >> most powerful is also one of the simplest: print. Another powerful tool
> >> in the interactive interpreter is help().
> >>
> >> So, what to do about it? Firstly, convert your string read from a file
> >> into numbers, then build your array. Here's one way:
> >>
> >> py> values = [float(s) for s in data.split()]
> >> py> print values
> >> [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0]
> >> py> array_lines = np.array(values)
> >> py> array_lines = array_lines.reshape(3, 3)
> >> py> print array_lines
> >> [[ 1.  2.  3.]
> >>  [ 4.  5.  6.]
> >>  [ 7.  8.  9.]]
> >>
> > Dear Steve,
> > Thanks for answering my question but unfortunately now I'm totally
> > confused.
> > Above I see parts from different programs which I can't
> > assemble together to one working program (I really tried hard).
> > Can I tell from your comment I shouldn't use numpy?
> > I also don't see how to get the value an element specified by (row,
> > column) from a numpy_array like "array_lines" in my original code
> > 
> > All I need is a little python-example reading a file with e.g. three lines
> > with three numbers per line and putting those numbers  as floats in a
> > 3x3-numpy_array, then selecting an element from that numpy_array using
> > it's row and column-number.
> I'll try, too, but be warned that I'm using the same methology as Steven. 
> Try to replicate every step in the following exploration.
> First let's make sure we start with the same data:
> $ cat test.dat
> 1.0 2 3
> 4 5 6.0
> 7 8 9
> Then fire up the interactve interpreter:
> $ python
> Python 2.7.5+ (default, Feb 27 2014, 19:37:08) 
> [GCC 4.8.1] on linux2
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> import numpy
> >>> lines = [line.strip() for line in open("test.dat")]
> >>> lines
> ['1.0 2 3', '4 5 6.0', '7 8 9']
> As you can see lines is a list of three strings.
> Let's break these strings into parts:
> >>> cells = [line.split() for line in lines]
> >>> cells
> [['1.0', '2', '3'], ['4', '5', '6.0'], ['7', '8', '9']]
> We now have a list of lists of strings and you can address individual items 
> with
> >>> cells[1][2]
> '6.0'
> What happens when pass this list of lists of strings to the numpy.array() 
> constructor?
> >>> a = numpy.array(cells)
> >>> a
> array([['1.0', '2', '3'],
>        ['4', '5', '6.0'],
>        ['7', '8', '9']], 
>       dtype='|S3')
> >>> a[1,2]
> '6.0'
> It sort of works, but the array entries are strings rather than floating 
> point numbers. Let's fix that:
> >>> a = numpy.array(cells, dtype=float)
> >>> a
> array([[ 1.,  2.,  3.],
>        [ 4.,  5.,  6.],
>        [ 7.,  8.,  9.]])
> >>> a[1,2]
> 6.0
> OK, now we can put the previous steps into a script:
> $ cat tmp.py
> import numpy
> cells = [line.split() for line in open("test.dat")]
> a = numpy.array(cells, dtype=float)
> print a[1, 2]
> Run it:
> $ python tmp.py
> 6.0
> Seems to work. But reading a 2D array from a file really looks like a common  
> task -- there should be a library function for that:
> $ python
> Python 2.7.5+ (default, Feb 27 2014, 19:37:08) 
> [GCC 4.8.1] on linux2
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> import numpy
> >>> numpy.loadtxt("test.dat")
> array([[ 1.,  2.,  3.],
>        [ 4.,  5.,  6.],
>        [ 7.,  8.,  9.]])

Thank you very much Peter for this great lesson, you made a lot of things
clear to me. 

sincerely
jean