Question

What is the simplest way to create this list in Python?

First, suppose I have this nested list:

oldList = [ [{'letter':'a'}], [{'letter':'b'}], [{'letter':'c'}] ]

I want a function to spit out:

newList = [ {'letter':a}, {'letter':'b'}, {'letter':'c'} ]

Well, this could be done manually. However, what if there are three nested? …X nested

Tricky? 🙂

Answer 1

http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2006/05/10/flattening-lists-in-python/

from that link (with a couple minor changes:

def flatten(l):
  if isinstance(l, list):
     return sum(map(flatten,l),[])
  else:
     return [l]