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Python Object-Oriented Python Advanced Objects Subclassing Built-ins

Suraj Shah
Suraj Shah
1,055 Points

copy.copy(value)

Please could you explain why Kenneth uses copy.copy(value).

1) why can we not use copy(value)?

2) why copy.copy?

1 Answer

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,457 Points

A good question! It does seem silly but there is a reason for this. As mentioned in the docs,

Assignment statements in Python do not copy objects, they create bindings between a target and an object.

Lists and strings (a special list, actually) have the slice notation, but other objects may or may not have a copying function build in. That's is where copy is useful.

The first copy is the library module copy, the second copy is the function that performs the actual copying.

Had Kenneth using the import statement from copy import copy then you could use copy(object) directly. However, by using import copy you get the module and to reference the function you need to use the form module.function.

Post back if you need anymore help!