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Make clearest information about sequences negative indexes #110903

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Merged
merged 7 commits into from
Mar 25, 2024
9 changes: 6 additions & 3 deletions Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -299,14 +299,17 @@ Sequences
These represent finite ordered sets indexed by non-negative numbers. The
built-in function :func:`len` returns the number of items of a sequence. When
the length of a sequence is *n*, the index set contains the numbers 0, 1,
..., *n*-1. Item *i* of sequence *a* is selected by ``a[i]``.
..., *n*-1. Item *i* of sequence *a* is selected by ``a[i]``. Some sequences,
including built-in sequences, interpret negative subscripts by adding the
sequence length. For example, ``a[-2]`` equals ``a[n-2]``, the second to last
item of sequence a with length ``n``.

.. index:: single: slicing

Sequences also support slicing: ``a[i:j]`` selects all items with index *k* such
that *i* ``<=`` *k* ``<`` *j*. When used as an expression, a slice is a
sequence of the same type. This implies that the index set is renumbered so
that it starts at 0.
sequence of the same type. The comment above about negative indexes also applies
to negative slice positions.

Some sequences also support "extended slicing" with a third "step" parameter:
``a[i:j:k]`` selects all items of *a* with index *x* where ``x = i + n*k``, *n*
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