Copy a List

You cannot copy a list simply by typing list2 = list1, because: list2 will only be a reference to list1, and changes made in list1 will automatically also be made in list2.

There are ways to make a copy, one way is to use the built-in List method copy().

Example

Make a copy of a list with the copy() method:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

mylist = thislist.copy()

print(mylist)

Another way to make a copy is to use the built-in method list().

Example

Make a copy of a list with the list() method:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

mylist = list(thislist)

print(mylist)

Join Two Lists

There are several ways to join, or concatenate, two or more lists in Python.

One of the easiest ways are by using the + operator.

Example

Join two list:

list1 = ["a", "b" , "c"]

list2 = [1, 2, 3]

list3 = list1 + list2

print(list3)

Another way to join two lists are by appending all the items from list2 into list1, one by one:

Example

Append list2 into list1:

list1 = ["a", "b" , "c"]

list2 = [1, 2, 3]

for x in list2:

 list1.append(x)

print(list1)