On 16/01/16 15:51, Ege Berkay Gülcan wrote: > def get_(loc, thing): > if loc==[]: return thing > return get_(loc[1:], thing[loc[0]]) > > Hi I am new to Python and I would like to learn about these uses of square > brackets. I know that loc[1:] means loc list without the first element but > I do not know the meanings of loc==[] and thing[loc[0]].
[] means an empty list. so if loc==[]: return thing tests whether loc is empty. Python treats an empty list as being 'false' so the test could just as easily have been written: if loc: thing[loc[0]] is simply applying an index to thing. loc[0] returns the value of the first item in loc. lets assume that is 2 then thing[loc[0]] would be the same as thing[2] As a side note, this function looks very fragile since it depends on thing having nested data structures that match the indexes provided by loc. -- Alan G Author of the Learn to Program web site http://www.alan-g.me.uk/ http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
