[Tutor] copies deep and shallow

[Marilyn Davis]

Hello Pythoners,

OK.  I'm stumped again.

>>> print dict.copy.__doc__
D.copy() -> a shallow copy of D

And from the copy module:

>>> print copy.__doc__

- A shallow copy constructs a new compound object and then (to the
  extent possible) inserts *the same objects* into in that the
  original contains.

- A deep copy constructs a new compound object and then, recursively,
  inserts *copies* into it of the objects found in the original.

So, here's my code:

#!/usr/bin/env python2.2
'''Trying to demonstrate deep/shallow copies of dictionaries'''

import copy
combos = {'steak':'lobster', 'liver':'onions'}
combos2 = combos.copy()
combos2['steak'] = 'eggs'

print 'Original combos:', combos
print '        combos2:', combos2

no_liver = copy.deepcopy(combos)
del no_liver['liver']

print 'Original combos:', combos
print '       no_liver:', no_liver

##### end of code

And the output:

bash-2.05a$ ./copies.py
Original combos: {'steak': 'lobster', 'liver': 'onions'}
        combos2: {'steak': 'eggs', 'liver': 'onions'}
Original combos: {'steak': 'lobster', 'liver': 'onions'}
       no_liver: {'steak': 'lobster'}
bash-2.05a$ 

---

I thought that when I changed combos2's 'lobster' to 'eggs', that the
original combos would be affected.  I thought that that is what a
shallow copy meant.

So I'm out to lunch some how.

Can anyone help?

Marilyn


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