How Can I Create a Truly Independent Copy of an Object in Python?

Copy Operations in Python: Achieving Object Independence

In Python, creating copies of objects is essential for a variety of programming scenarios. A copy operation creates a new object that shares the same values as the original but exists independently, meaning changes made to either object do not affect the other.

Creating an Independent Object

To create a truly independent copy of an object, we use the copy.deepcopy() function. This function performs a deep copy, which recursively copies all nested attributes of the original object.

<code class="python">import copy

original_object = {
    "key1": "value1",
    "key2": [1, 2, 3]
}

new_object = copy.deepcopy(original_object)

# Change the value of a field in the new object
new_object["key1"] = "modified_value1"

# Verify that the original object remains unchanged
print(original_object["key1"])  # Outputs "value1"</code>

This deep copy ensures that the new object new_object possesses all properties and values of the original object, but any modifications to new_object will not affect the original object original_object.

Additional Considerations

While copy.deepcopy() is generally the most reliable method for creating independent copies, certain types of objects may still exhibit dependencies. For instance, objects that contain references to other objects may not be completely independent after a deep copy.

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