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Python Python Collections (Retired) Slices Sorting Slices

Posted by laurenwolf
laurenwolf
2,519 Points

Stage 2 Slices Coding Challenge Error

I'm getting an error on task 2 of this challenge.

My code is as follows:

clean_list = messy_list

clean_list.sort()

I get the error "Bummer! Don't change messy_list" I don't see anywhere in my code where messy_list is being changed, and I am frustrated by this error. Please help.

1 Answer

Joseph Kato
Joseph Kato
35,340 Points
Joseph Kato
Joseph Kato
35,340 Points

Hi Lauren,

The statement clean_list = messy_list is assigning a reference to clean_list (not an independent copy of messy_list).

For instance:

>>> messy_list = [5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 0, 9, -1]
>>> clean_list = messy_list
>>> clean_list.append("I'm a new element")
>>> messy_list
[5, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 0, 9, -1, "I'm a new element"]

As you can see, even though I only added an element to clean_list, the addition was also represented in messy_list.

What you want to do is assign a copy of messy_list to clean_list using slice syntax:

clean_list = messy_list[:]
laurenwolf
laurenwolf
2,519 Points

Thanks, I new it was going to be a simple mistake I was making.