[Numpy-discussion] 'append' array method request.

[Sasha]

On 4/21/06, Robert Hetland <hetland at tamu.edu> wrote:
> [...]
> I think it would be nice to be able to create empty arrays, and
> append the values onto the end as I loop through the file without
> creating the intermediate list.  Is this reasonable?  Is there a way
> to do this with existing methods or functions that I am missing?  Is
> there a better way altogether?
>

Numpy arrays cannot grow in-place because there is no way for an array
to tell if it's data is shared with other arrays.  You can use
python's standard library arrays instead of lists:

>>> from numpy import *
>>> import array as a
>>> x = a.array('i',[])
>>> x.append(1)
>>> x.append(2)
>>> x.append(3)
>>> ndarray(len(x), dtype=int, buffer=x)
array([1, 2, 3])

Note that data is not copied:

>>> ndarray(len(x), dtype=int, buffer=x)[1] = 20
>>> x
array('i', [1, 20, 3])