Find and replace multiple values in python

Question

I want to find and replace multiple values in an 1D array / list with new ones.

In example for a list

a=[2, 3, 2, 5, 4, 4, 1, 2]

I woul

Answer 1

Assuming that your val_old array is sorted (which is the case here, but if later on it's not, then don't forget to sort val_new along with it!), you can use numpy.searchsorted and then access val_new with the results.
This does not work if a number has no mapping, you will have to provide 1to1 mappings in that case.

In [1]: import numpy as np

In [2]: a = np.array([2, 3, 2, 5, 4, 4, 1, 2])

In [3]: old_val = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

In [4]: new_val = np.array([2, 3, 4, 5, 1])

In [5]: a_new = np.array([3, 4, 3, 1, 5, 5, 2, 3])

In [6]: i = np.searchsorted(old_val,a)

In [7]: a_replaced = new_val[i]

In [8]: all(a_replaced == a_new)
Out[8]: True

50k numbers? No problem!

In [23]: def timed():
    t0 = time.time()
    i = np.searchsorted(old_val, a)
    a_replaced = new_val[i]
    t1 = time.time()
    print('%s Seconds'%(t1-t0))
   ....: 

In [24]: a = np.random.choice(old_val, 50000)

In [25]: timed()
0.00288081169128 Seconds

500k? You won't notice the difference!

In [26]: a = np.random.choice(old_val, 500000)

In [27]: timed()
0.019248008728 Seconds