How to Create a Copy of Numpy Array : Various Methods

Numpy is a python package that allows array manipulation in an efficient way. You can do mathematical computational very fast using it. There are many things you can do using numpy array. Copy a numpy array is one of them. In this entire tutorial you will know various methods create a copy of numpy array.

Methods to Create a Copy of Numpy Array

Lets know all the methods to create copy of numpy array.

Method 1: Using the copy() function

The first method is the use of copy function. Here you will first define the input array and then you will use the copy() function over it to get the copy of the array.

Use the below lines of code to copy a numpy array.

import numpy as np
array_1= np.array([[10, 20], [30, 40]])
copy_array = array_1.copy()
print(copy_array )

Output

In the above code I have created numpy array of integer type. After creating copy of numpy array I have print it to the system.

Method 2: Use the slice operator

The another method to copy a numpy array is the use of slice operator. Here I will use the your_array[:] and assign the result to another variable.

The new array will be the exact copy of the existing numpy array.

Use the below lines of code to create a copy.

import numpy as np
array_1= np.array([[10, 20], [30, 40]])
copy_array = array_1[:]
print(copy_array )

Output

Method 3: Use the view() function

You can create a shallow copy of the numpy array using the view() function. You will use the dot operator on the original array to get the same array.

Execute the below lines of code to do that.

import numpy as np
array_1= np.array([[10, 20], [30, 40]])
copy_array = array_1.view()
print(copy_array )

Output

Method 4: Copy a numpy array using the deepcopy() function

The another method to copy a numpy array is the use of copy module. The copy module has a function named deepcopy(). The function will return the exact copy of the numpy and its values are independent from the original array.

Run the below lines of code to create a copy.

import numpy as np
import copy
array_1= np.array([[10, 20], [30, 40]])
copy_array = copy.deepcopy(array_1)
print(copy_array )

Output

copying array Using the deepcopy function

Conclusion

Sometimes you don’t want to manipulate the original numpy array. Thus the above methods allows you to create copy of the numpy array to do manipulations. You can use any method as per convenience.

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