Extended unpacking in Python 3.0

After reading about href="http://www.rosettacode.org/wiki/Pattern_Matching"
target="_blank">pattern matching on Rosetta Code,
I wondered, (and still am wondering), if it has anything to do with
list unpacking in Python, which lead me to do some simple explorations
of the target="_blank">extended iterable unpacking that
is new in Python 3.0.

Introducing a star

The feature builds on the pre-existing capability of being able to
unpack a list or tuple into multiple names in Python 2.x, so in Python
2.x you
could do:

>>> import platform
>>> platform.python_version()
' color="#ff00ff">2.6.1'
>>> lst = [1,2,3]
>>> a,b,c = lst
>>> print a,b,c
1 2 3
>>> tpl = (1,2,3)
>>> a,b,c = tpl
>>> print a,b,c
1 2 3
>>> iter = (x for x in range(4))
>>> iter
<generator object <genexpr> at 0x01300468>
>>> a,b,c,d = iter
>>> print a,b,c,d
0 1 2 3
>>>  color="#0000ff"># You could also do the (fancy), but non-* stuff too
>>> a,b,(c,d) = (1,2,(3,4))
>>>  color="#804040">print a,b,c,d
1 2 3 4
>>>  color="#0000ff"># But not
>>> a,*b = (1,2,3,4)
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> 

In Python 3.0 you get all of the above plus the ability to 'soak up'
the rest of the values using style="font-weight: bold;">* (which I pronounce
as 'star' in this
context).

It is similar to how you can use *args in a function definition to
assign extra positional arguments to a name. In an assignment however
it means 'take
whatever's left of the what is being assigned and assign it to me as a
list'.



Here are some examples:

>>> import platform
>>> platform.python_version()
' color="#ff00ff">3.0.1'
>>> a,*b = [1,2,3,4]
>>>  color="#804040">print(a,b, sep=' color="#ff00ff">    ')
1    [2, 3, 4]
>>> a = [1,2,3,4]
>>>  color="#0000ff"># Note the comma after the *b to make it a tuple
>>> *b, = [1,2,3,4]
>>> a == b
True
>>>  color="#0000ff"># Only one * per iterable (or sub-iterable) being assigned
>>> *a,*b = [1,2,3,4]
 style="color: red;">SyntaxError: two starred expressions  style="color: red;" color="#804040">in style="color: red;"> assignment (<pyshell style="color: red;" color="#0000ff">#87>, line 1)
>>>
>>>  color="#0000ff"># but note:
>>> a,*b,(c,*d) = [1,2,3,[4,5,6]]
>>>  color="#804040">print(a,b,c,d, sep=' color="#ff00ff">    ')
1    [2, 3]    4    [5, 6]
>>>  color="#0000ff"># Notice that  style="font-weight: bold;">*  style="text-decoration: underline;">always creates a list
>>> *a, = (1,2,3)
>>> a
 style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">[1, 2, 3 style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">]
>>> a,b,(*c,) = (x  color="#804040">if x<2  color="#804040">else range(5)  color="#804040">for x  color="#804040">in range(3))
>>>  color="#804040">print(a,b,c, sep=' color="#ff00ff">    ')
0    1    [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
>>>
>>>  color="#0000ff"># Although you can have only one  style="font-weight: bold;">* per (sub)iterable, its position is flexible
>>> a,*b,c = [1,2,3,4]
>>> b
[2, 3]
>>> *b,a,c = [1,2,3,4]
>>> b
[1, 2]
>>> a,c,*b = [1,2,3,4]
>>>
>>>  color="#0000ff"># And look!
>>> a,c,*b,d,e = [1,2,3,4]
>>> b
[]
>>> a,b,c,d,e
(1, [], 2, 3, 4)
>>>  color="#0000ff"># So * can accumulate  style="text-decoration: underline;">no values in some cases

I'm looking forward to using this feature in 3.1.