Why is list.remove only removing every second item?

Question

In my Python 2.7.2 IDLE interpreter:

>>> mylist = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
>>> for item in mylist:
        mylist.remove(item)

>>> mylist
[2,          


        

Answer 1

Use a deep copy of mylist

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

l = [k for k in mylist] # deep copy

for i in range(len(mylist)):
    mylist.remove(l[i])
    print 

print mylist