What is deep copy and shallow copy in Python?

What is deep copy and shallow copy in Python?

A shallow copy constructs a new compound object and then (to the extent possible) inserts references into it to the objects found in the original. A deep copy constructs a new compound object and then, recursively, inserts copies into it of the objects found in the original.

Does Python shallow or deep copy?

In Python, a shallow copy is a “one-level-deep” copy. The copied object contains references to the child objects of the original object. A deep copy is completely independent of the original object. It constructs a new collection object by recursively populating it with copies of the child objects.

What is the difference between deep copy and shallow copy?

Deep copy stores copies of the object’s value. Shallow Copy reflects changes made to the new/copied object in the original object. Deep copy doesn’t reflect changes made to the new/copied object in the original object. Shallow Copy stores the copy of the original object and points the references to the objects.

What does Copy () do in Python?

The Python copy() method creates a copy of an existing list. The copy() method is added to the end of a list object and so it does not accept any parameters. copy() returns a new list. Python includes a built-in function to support creating a shallow copy of a list: copy().

Does copy constructor do shallow copy?

The default version of the copy constructor (created by the compiler) makes what is known as a shallow copy. This simply means that the object is copied exactly as is — each member data value is copied exactly over to the corresponding member data location in the new object.

What is shallow copy Python?

Assignment statements in Python do not create copies of objects, they only bind names to an object. A shallow copy means constructing a new collection object and then populating it with references to the child objects found in the original. In essence, a shallow copy is only one level deep.

Is List deep copy Python?

You don’t make a deep copy using list() . (Both list(…) and testList[:] are shallow copies.) You use copy. deepcopy(…) for deep copying a list.

How do I make a true copy of a list?

To actually copy the list, you have various possibilities:

  1. You can use the builtin list.copy() method (available since Python 3.3): new_list = old_list.copy()
  2. You can slice it: new_list = old_list[:]
  3. You can use the built in list() function: new_list = list(old_list)

What is shallow copy and deep copy C++?

A shallow copy of an object copies all of the member field values. A deep copy copies all fields, and makes copies of dynamically allocated memory pointed to by the fields.

What is the difference between shallow and deep copy?

The main difference between shallow copy and deep copy is that shallow copy creates a new object and then populates it with references to the child objects found in the original, while deep copy creates a new object and then recursively populates it with copies of the child objects found in the original.

How do I copy an object in Python?

Copy an Object in Python In Python, we use = operator to create a copy of an object. You may think that this creates a new object; it doesn’t. It only creates a new variable that shares the reference of the original object.

What is a deep copy Python?

3. Python Deep Copy. When a deep copy in Python creates a new object, it inserts into the new object copies of the objects in the original object. In other words, it copies an object into another. This means any changes we make to the copy do not reflect in the original.