mergelists#

mergelists(*args, coerce='default', copy=False, **kwargs)[source]#

Merge multiple lists together.

Often used to flexible handle the input arguments to functions; see example below.

Parameters:

args (any) – the lists, or items, to be joined together into a list
coerce (str) – what types of objects to treat as lists; see sc.tolist() for details
copy (bool) – whether to deepcopy the resultant object
kwargs (dict) – passed to sc.tolist(), which is called on each argument

Examples:

# Simple usage
sc.mergelists(None)                                # Returns []
sc.mergelists([1,2,3], [4,5,6])                    # Returns [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
sc.mergelists([1,2,3], 4, 5, 6)                    # Returns [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
sc.mergelists([(1,2), (3,4)], (5,6))               # Returns [(1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6)]
sc.mergelists((1,2), (3,4), (5,6))                 # Returns [(1, 2), (3, 4), (5, 6)]
sc.mergelists((1,2), (3,4), (5,6), coerce='tuple') # Returns [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

# Usage for handling flexible input arguments
def my_func(arg=None, *args):
    arglist = sc.mergelists(arg, list(args))
    return arglist

a = my_func()           # Returns []
b = my_func([1,2,3])    # Returns [1,2,3]
c = my_func(1,2,3)      # Returns [1,2,3]
d = my_func([1,2], 3)   # Returns [1,2,3]
f = my_func(1, *[2,3])  # Returns [1,2,3]
e = my_func(1, [2,3])   # Returns [1,[2,3]] since second argument is ambiguous
g = my_func([[1,2]], 3) # Returns [[1,2],3] since first argument is nested

New in version 1.1.0.