Efficient way to rotate a list in python

Question

What is the most efficient way to rotate a list in python? Right now I have something like this:

>>> def rotate(l, n):
...     return l[n:] + l[:n]         


        

Answer 1

I think you are looking for this:

a.insert(0, x)

Answer 2

For an immutable implementation, you could use something like this:

def shift(seq, n):
    shifted_seq = []
    for i in range(len(seq)):
        shifted_seq.append(seq[(i-n) % len(seq)])
    return shifted_seq

print shift([1, 2, 3, 4], 1)

Answer 3

If efficiency is your goal, (cycles? memory?) you may be better off looking at the array module: http://docs.python.org/library/array.html

Arrays do not have the overhead of lists.

As far as pure lists go though, what you have is about as good as you can hope to do.

Answer 4

I don't know if this is 'efficient', but it also works:

x = [1,2,3,4]
x.insert(0,x.pop())

EDIT: Hello again, I just found a big problem with this solution! Consider the following code:

class MyClass():
    def __init__(self):
        self.classlist = []

    def shift_classlist(self): # right-shift-operation
        self.classlist.insert(0, self.classlist.pop())

if __name__ == '__main__':
    otherlist = [1,2,3]
    x = MyClass()

    # this is where kind of a magic link is created...
    x.classlist = otherlist

    for ii in xrange(2): # just to do it 2 times
        print '\n\n\nbefore shift:'
        print '     x.classlist =', x.classlist
        print '     otherlist =', otherlist
        x.shift_classlist() 
        print 'after shift:'
        print '     x.classlist =', x.classlist
        print '     otherlist =', otherlist, '<-- SHOULD NOT HAVE BIN CHANGED!'

The shift_classlist() method executes the same code as my x.insert(0,x.pop())-solution, otherlist is a list indipendent from the class. After passing the content of otherlist to the MyClass.classlist list, calling the shift_classlist() also changes the otherlist list:

CONSOLE OUTPUT:

before shift:
     x.classlist = [1, 2, 3]
     otherlist = [1, 2, 3]
after shift:
     x.classlist = [3, 1, 2]
     otherlist = [3, 1, 2] <-- SHOULD NOT HAVE BIN CHANGED!



before shift:
     x.classlist = [3, 1, 2]
     otherlist = [3, 1, 2]
after shift:
     x.classlist = [2, 3, 1]
     otherlist = [2, 3, 1] <-- SHOULD NOT HAVE BIN CHANGED!

I use Python 2.7. I don't know if thats a bug, but I think it's more likely that I missunderstood something here.

Does anyone of you know why this happens?

Answer 5

for similar functionality as shift in other languages:

def shift(l):
    x = l[0]
    del(l[0])
    return x

Answer 6

Possibly a ringbuffer is more suitable. It is not a list, although it is likely that it can behave enough like a list for your purposes.

The problem is that the efficiency of a shift on a list is O(n), which becomes significant for large enough lists.

Shifting in a ringbuffer is simply updating the head location which is O(1)