Converting a 3D List to a 3D NumPy array

Question

Currently, I have a 3D Python list in jagged array format.
A = [[[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]], [[0], [0], [0]]]

Is there any way I could convert

Answer 1

It is unfortunate that the input structure is a jagged list. If one could adjust the method used to generate the list by assigning no data values, then there is so much more one can do. I made this comment in the initial post, but I will demonstrate how the design of the originals could be altered to facilitate obtaining more data while enabling the return of a list.

I have done this as a function so I could comment the inputs and outputs for further reference.

def num_46():
    """(num_46)... Masked array from ill-formed list
    :  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40289943/
    :  converting-a-3d-list-to-a-3d-numpy-array
    :  A =[[[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]], 
    :      [[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]], [[0], [0], [0]]]
    """
    frmt = """
    :Input list...
    {}\n
    :Masked array data
    {}\n
    :A sample calculations:
    :  a.count(axis=0) ... a.count(axis=1) ... a.count(axis=2)
    {}\n
    {}\n
    {}\n
    : and finally:  a * 2
    {}\n
    :Return it to a list...
    {}
    """
    a_list = [[[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8]],
              [[9, 10, 11], [12, 13, 14], [15, 16, 17]],
              [[18, -1, -1], [21, -1, -1], [24, -1, -1]]]
    mask_val = -1
    a = np.ma.masked_equal(a_list, mask_val)
    a.set_fill_value(mask_val)
    final = a.tolist(mask_val)
    args = [a_list, a,
            a.count(axis=0), a.count(axis=1), a.count(axis=2),
            a*2, final]
    print(dedent(frmt).format(*args))
    return a_list, a, final


#----------------------
if __name__ == "__main__":
    """Main section...   """
    A, a, c = num_46()

Some results that show that the use of masked arrays may be preferable to jagged/malformed list structure.

:Input list...
[[[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8]],
 [[9, 10, 11], [12, 13, 14], [15, 16, 17]],
 [[18, -1, -1], [21, -1, -1], [24, -1, -1]]]

:Masked array data
[[[0 1 2]
  [3 4 5]
  [6 7 8]]

 [[9 10 11]
  [12 13 14]
  [15 16 17]]

 [[18 - -]
  [21 - -]
  [24 - -]]]

:A sample calculations:
:  a.count(axis=0) ... a.count(axis=1) ... a.count(axis=2)
[[3 2 2]
 [3 2 2]
 [3 2 2]]

[[3 3 3]
 [3 3 3]
 [3 0 0]]

[[3 3 3]
 [3 3 3]
 [1 1 1]]

: and finally:  a * 2
[[[0 2 4]
  [6 8 10]
  [12 14 16]]

 [[18 20 22]
  [24 26 28]
  [30 32 34]]

 [[36 - -]
  [42 - -]
  [48 - -]]]

:Return it to a list...
[[[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8]], [[9, 10, 11], [12, 13, 14], [15, 16, 17]], [[18, -1, -1], [21, -1, -1], [24, -1, -1]]]

Hope this helps someone.