Efficient way to shift 2D-matrices in both directions?

Question

Given a two dimensional matrix, e.g.

l = [[1,1,1],
     [2,5,2],
     [3,3,3]])

What is the most efficient way of implementing a shift operatio

Answer 1

Maybe something like this using numpy:

def shift(x, direction='up'):
    if direction == 'up':
        temp = range(x.shape[0])
        indicies = temp[1:] + [temp[0]]
        return x[indicies]
    elif direction == 'left':
        temp = range(x.shape[1])
        indicies = temp[1:] + [temp[0]]
        return x[:, indicies]
    else:
        print 'Error direction not known'

Result:

>>> shift(l, direction='up')
array([[2, 5, 2],
       [3, 3, 3],
       [1, 1, 1]])
>>> shift(l, direction='left')
array([[1, 1, 1],
       [5, 2, 2],
       [3, 3, 3]])
>>> shift(l, direction='to the moon')
Error direction not known