Slice

The empty slice operator [:] in Python is a powerful and concise way of copying a list. It is shorthand syntax allowing you to create a new list that contains all the elements of the existing list where the operator is used. This operator is represented by one colon wrapped in square brackets [:] with no values or spaces inside. While the empty slice operator may seem like a simple and straightforward way to copy a list, it is important to note that it only creates a shallow copy. This means that if the list contains mutable objects, such as other lists or dictionaries, the new list will still reference the objects contained in the original list. Therefore, any changes made to the original objects will also be reflected in the new copied list. ...

The slice operator enables you to capture a subset of data from an original list or string using the format [start:stop:step]. Some popular use cases where I have used the slice operator include: Extracting year and/or month and/or day of the month from a string Extracting the zip code at the tail end of an address string Masking bank account or credit card numbers Extracting area code from phone numbers Here is how the Python [:] operator can work when populating the values on either side of the colon: ...