Initialise a list to a specific length in Python

Question

How do I initialise a list with 10 times a default value in Python?

I'm searching for a good-looking way to initialize a empty list with a specific range. So make a list that contains 10 zeros or something to be sure that my list has a specific length.

Answer 1

list multiplication works.

>>> [0] * 10
[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]

Answer 2

If the "default value" you want is immutable, @eduffy's suggestion, e.g. [0]*10, is good enough.

But if you want, say, a list of ten dicts, do not use [{}]*10 -- that would give you a list with the same initially-empty dict ten times, not ten distinct ones. Rather, use [{} for i in range(10)] or similar constructs, to construct ten separate dicts to make up your list.