Question

If it is not possible to create this list without loops, I’d be content just to minimize the time it takes to create this list. The goal is to create a two-dimensional array with the filenames for 100 pdf files in each of 10 or so folders. Tell me what you think:

    foldernames = [ 
        'Named_folder00/',
        'Named_folder01/',
        'Named_folder02/',
        'Named_folder03/',
        'Named_folder04/',
        'Named_folder05/',
        'Named_folder06/',
        'Named_folder07/',
        'Named_folder08/',
        'Named_folder09/',
        ]

    pages = []
    for b in xrange(len(foldernames)):
        pg_temp = [
            foldernames[b] + 'title1',
            foldernames[b] + 'title2',
            foldernames[b] + 'title3'
            ]
        pg_temp += [ foldernames[b] + '0' + str(j) for j in xrange(1,10) ]
        pg_temp += [ foldernames[b] + str(k) for k in xrange(10,100) ]
        for c in xrange(len(pg_temp)):
            pg_temp[c] += '.pdf'
        pages.append(pg_temp)

Answer 1

files = ['title1.pdf', 'title2.pdf', 'title3.pdf']
files += [ "%.2d.pdf" % j for j in range(1,100)]
pages = [[folder+file for file in files] for folder in foldernames]

Note: I have no idea how fast it is, didn’t benchmark it.