Question

Consider a list:
list1 = [6,7,8,9]
What is the difference between the following operations on list1:
a. list1 * 2
b. list1 *= 2
c. list1 = list1 * 2

Answer 1

Given list:

list1 = [6, 7, 8, 9]

Let's first see what output is shown from the following operations.

a. list1*2

This statement would render the following output:

• [6, 7, 8, 9, 6, 7, 8, 9]

b. list1*=2

This statement would store the value of list1*2 into list1, i.e., list1 will now be:

• [6, 7, 8, 9, 6, 7, 8, 9]

c.  list1 = list1*2

This statement is the same as the statement above, i.e., list1 is:

• [6, 7, 8, 9, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Coming to the differences, (b) and (c) have no difference, they're the same. They store the value of list1*2 into list1.

Statement (a), however, is not a statement that stores a value, it simply prints the value of list1*2, i.e., the value of list1 will still be [6, 7, 8, 9].