python - How to deep copy a list?

Question

I have some problem with a List copy:

So After I got E0 from 'get_edge', I make a copy of E0 by calling 'E0_copy = list(E0)'. Here I guess E0_copy is a deep copy of E0, and I pass E0_copy into 'karger(E)'. But in the main function.
Why does the result of 'print E0[1:10]' before the for loop is not the same with that after the for loop?

Below is my code:

def get_graph():
    f=open('kargerMinCut.txt')
    G={}
    for line in f:
        ints = [int(x) for x in line.split()]
        G[ints[0]]=ints[1:len(ints)]
    return G

def get_edge(G):
    E=[]
    for i in range(1,201):
        for v in G[i]:
            if v>i:
                E.append([i,v])
    print id(E)
    return E

def karger(E):
    import random
    count=200 
    while 1:
        if count == 2:
            break
        edge = random.randint(0,len(E)-1)
        v0=E[edge][0]
        v1=E[edge][1]                   
        E.pop(edge)
        if v0 != v1:
            count -= 1
            i=0
            while 1:
                if i == len(E):
                    break
                if E[i][0] == v1:
                    E[i][0] = v0
                if E[i][1] == v1:
                    E[i][1] = v0
                if E[i][0] == E[i][1]:
                    E.pop(i)
                    i-=1
                i+=1

    mincut=len(E)
    return mincut


if __name__=="__main__":
    import copy
    G = get_graph()
    results=[]
    E0 = get_edge(G)
    print E0[1:10]               ## this result is not equal to print2
    for k in range(1,5):
        E0_copy=list(E0)         ## I guess here E0_coypy is a deep copy of E0
        results.append(karger(E0_copy))
       #print "the result is %d" %min(results)
    print E0[1:10]               ## this is print2

Answer 1

E0_copy is not a deep copy. You don't make a deep copy using list(). (Both list(...) and testList[:] are shallow copies.)

You use copy.deepcopy(...) for deep copying a list.

deepcopy(x, memo=None, _nil=[])
    Deep copy operation on arbitrary Python objects.

See the following snippet -

>>> a = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> b = list(a)
>>> a
[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> b
[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> a[0][1] = 10
>>> a
[[1, 10, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> b   # b changes too -> Not a deepcopy.
[[1, 10, 3], [4, 5, 6]]

Now see the deepcopy operation

>>> import copy
>>> b = copy.deepcopy(a)
>>> a
[[1, 10, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> b
[[1, 10, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> a[0][1] = 9
>>> a
[[1, 9, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
>>> b    # b doesn't change -> Deep Copy
[[1, 10, 3], [4, 5, 6]]