What is the difference between a shallow copy and a deep copy of a tuple in Python?
Davide S

In Python, when you want to create a copy of a tuple object, you have the option to make either a shallow copy or a deep copy. Understanding the difference between these two types of copies is crucial as it affects how changes to the original tuple or the copied tuple are reflected. 1. Shallow Copy: A shallow copy of a tuple creates a new tuple object that contains references to the same elements as the original tuple. In other words, the elements themselves are not duplicated, but rather, both the original tuple and the shallow copy contain references to the same objects. Changes made to the elements (if mutable) are reflected in both the original tuple and the shallow copy. Here's an example that demonstrates a shallow copy of a tuple:

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import copy

original_tuple = ([1, 2], 3, 4)
shallow_copy = copy.copy(original_tuple)

shallow_copy[0].append(5)

print(original_tuple)  # Output: ([1, 2, 5], 3, 4)
print(shallow_copy)  # Output: ([1, 2, 5], 3, 4)

In the above code,original_tuple is the original tuple, andshallow_copy is created using thecopy.copy() function. Modifying the mutable element ([1, 2]) of theshallow_copy tuple affects both theshallow_copy tuple and theoriginal_tuple. 2. Deep Copy: A deep copy of a tuple creates a completely independent copy of the original tuple. It creates a new tuple object and duplicates all the elements of the original tuple. The elements themselves are copied to the new tuple, ensuring that modifications made to one tuple do not affect the other. Here's an example that demonstrates a deep copy of a tuple:

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import copy

original_tuple = ([1, 2], 3, 4)
deep_copy = copy.deepcopy(original_tuple)

deep_copy[0].append(5)

print(original_tuple)  # Output: ([1, 2], 3, 4)
print(deep_copy)  # Output: ([1, 2, 5], 3, 4)

In the above code, thedeepcopy() function from thecopy module is used to create a deep copy of theoriginal_tuple. Modifying the mutable element ([1, 2]) of thedeep_copy tuple does not affect theoriginal_tuple. To summarize, the key differences between a shallow copy and a deep copy of a tuple in Python are: - Shallow copy creates a new tuple that contains references to the same elements as the original tuple, while deep copy creates a completely independent copy with duplicated elements. - Changes made to mutable elements in a shallow copy are reflected in the original tuple, while changes in a deep copy do not affect the original tuple. - Shallow copy is created using thecopy.copy() function, while deep copy is created using thecopy.deepcopy() function from thecopy module. Understanding these differences will help you choose the appropriate copy method for your tuples based on your requirements.

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