itertools — Funções que criam iteradores para laços eficientes

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Esse módulo implementa diversos blocos de construção de iterator building blocks inspirados por construções de APL, Haskell, e SML. Cada uma foi reformulada de forma adequada para Python.

Esse módulo padroniza um conjunto central de ferramentas rápidas e de uso eficiente da memória, que podem ser utilizadas sozinhas ou combinadas. Juntas, eles formam uma “álgebra de iteradores” tornando possível construir ferramentas sucintas e eficientes em Python puro.

Por exemplo, SML fornece uma ferramenta para tabulação: tabulate(f) que produz uma sequência f(0), f(1), .... O mesmo efeito pode ser obtido em Python combinando map() e count() para formar map(f, count()).

Essa ferramentas e suas equivalências embutidas também trabalham bem com as funções de alta velocidade do módulo operator module. Por exemplo, o operador de multiplicação pode ser mapeado em dois vetores para criar um produto escalar eficiente: sum(map(operator.mul, vector1, vector2)).

Iteradores infinitos:

Iterador	Argumentos	Resultado	Exemplo
count()	start, [step]	start, start+step, start+2*step, …	count(10) --> 10 11 12 13 14 ...
cycle()	p	p0, p1, … ultimo elemento de p, p0, p1, …	cycle('ABCD') --> A B C D A B C D ...
repeat()	elem [,n]	elem, elem, elem, … repete infinitamente ou até n vezes	repeat(10, 3) --> 10 10 10

Iteradores terminando na sequencia de entrada mais curta:

Iterador	Argumentos	Resultado	Exemplo
accumulate()	p [,func]	p0, p0+p1, p0+p1+p2, …	accumulate([1,2,3,4,5]) --> 1 3 6 10 15
chain()	p, q, …	p0, p1, … último elemento de p, q0, q1, …	chain('ABC', 'DEF') --> A B C D E F
chain.from_iterable()	iterável	p0, p1, … último elemento de p, q0, q1, …	chain.from_iterable(['ABC', 'DEF']) --> A B C D E F
compress()	data, selectors	(d[0] if s[0]), (d[1] if s[1]), …	compress('ABCDEF', [1,0,1,0,1,1]) --> A C E F
dropwhile()	pred, seq	seq[n], seq[n+1], iniciando quando pred for falsa	dropwhile(lambda x: x<5, [1,4,6,4,1]) --> 6 4 1
filterfalse()	pred, seq	elementos de seq onde pred(elem) é falso	filterfalse(lambda x: x%2, range(10)) --> 0 2 4 6 8
groupby()	iterable[, key]	sub-iteradores agrupados pelo valor de key(v)
islice()	seq, [start,] stop [, step]	elementos de seq[start:stop:step]	islice('ABCDEFG', 2, None) --> C D E F G
starmap()	func, seq	func(*seq[0]), func(*seq[1]), …	starmap(pow, [(2,5), (3,2), (10,3)]) --> 32 9 1000
takewhile()	pred, seq	seq[0], seq[1], enquanto pred é falso	takewhile(lambda x: x<5, [1,4,6,4,1]) --> 1 4
tee()	it, n	n iteradores it independentes
zip_longest()	p, q, …	(p[0], q[0]), (p[1], q[1]), …	zip_longest('ABCD', 'xy', fillvalue='-') --> Ax By C- D-

Iteradores combinatórios:

Iterador	Argumentos	Resultado
product()	p, q, … [repeat=1]	produto cartesiano, equivalente a laços for aninhados
permutations()	p[, r]	tuplas de tamanho r, com todas ordenações possíveis, sem elementos repetidos
combinations()	p, r	tuplas de tamanho r, ordenadas, sem elementos repetidos
combinations_with_replacement()	p, r	tuplas de tamanho r, ordenadas, com elementos repetidos
product('ABCD', repeat=2)		AA AB AC AD BA BB BC BD CA CB CC CD DA DB DC DD
permutations('ABCD', 2)		AB AC AD BA BC BD CA CB CD DA DB DC
combinations('ABCD', 2)		AB AC AD BC BD CD
combinations_with_replacement('ABCD', 2)		AA AB AC AD BB BC BD CC CD DD

Funções de itertools

Todas as funções a seguir constroem e retorna iteradores. Algumas fornecem fluxos de tamanhos infinitos, assim elas devem ser acessados somente por funções ou laços que interrompem o fluxo.

itertools.accumulate(iterable[, func])

Make an iterator that returns accumulated sums, or accumulated results of other binary functions (specified via the optional func argument). If func is supplied, it should be a function of two arguments. Elements of the input iterable may be any type that can be accepted as arguments to func. (For example, with the default operation of addition, elements may be any addable type including Decimal or Fraction.) If the input iterable is empty, the output iterable will also be empty.

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def accumulate(iterable, func=operator.add):
    'Return running totals'
    # accumulate([1,2,3,4,5]) --> 1 3 6 10 15
    # accumulate([1,2,3,4,5], operator.mul) --> 1 2 6 24 120
    it = iter(iterable)
    try:
        total = next(it)
    except StopIteration:
        return
    yield total
    for element in it:
        total = func(total, element)
        yield total

Existem diversos usos para o argumento func. Ele pode ser definido como a função min() calcular um valor mínimo, max() para um valor máximo, ou operator.mul() para calcular um produto. Tabelas de amortização podem ser construídas acumulando juros e aplicando pagamentos. Relações de recorrência de primeira ordem podem ser modeladas fornecendo o valor inicial no iterável e usando somente o valor total acumulado no argumento func:

>>> data = [3, 4, 6, 2, 1, 9, 0, 7, 5, 8]
>>> list(accumulate(data, operator.mul))     # running product
[3, 12, 72, 144, 144, 1296, 0, 0, 0, 0]
>>> list(accumulate(data, max))              # running maximum
[3, 4, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9]

# Amortize a 5% loan of 1000 with 4 annual payments of 90
>>> cashflows = [1000, -90, -90, -90, -90]
>>> list(accumulate(cashflows, lambda bal, pmt: bal*1.05 + pmt))
[1000, 960.0, 918.0, 873.9000000000001, 827.5950000000001]

# Chaotic recurrence relation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistic_map
>>> logistic_map = lambda x, _:  r * x * (1 - x)
>>> r = 3.8
>>> x0 = 0.4
>>> inputs = repeat(x0, 36)     # only the initial value is used
>>> [format(x, '.2f') for x in accumulate(inputs, logistic_map)]
['0.40', '0.91', '0.30', '0.81', '0.60', '0.92', '0.29', '0.79', '0.63',
 '0.88', '0.39', '0.90', '0.33', '0.84', '0.52', '0.95', '0.18', '0.57',
 '0.93', '0.25', '0.71', '0.79', '0.63', '0.88', '0.39', '0.91', '0.32',
 '0.83', '0.54', '0.95', '0.20', '0.60', '0.91', '0.30', '0.80', '0.60']

Veja functools.reduce() para uma função similar que devolve apenas o valor acumulado final.

Novo na versão 3.2.

Alterado na versão 3.3: Adicionado o parâmetro opcional func.

itertools.chain(*iterables)

Cria um iterador que devolve elementos do primeiro iterável até o esgotamento, então continua com o próximo iterável, até que todos os iteráveis sejam esgotados. Usando para tratar sequências consecutivas como uma única sequencia. aproximadamente equivalente a:

def chain(*iterables):
    # chain('ABC', 'DEF') --> A B C D E F
    for it in iterables:
        for element in it:
            yield element

classmethod chain.from_iterable(iterable)

Construtor alternativo para chain(). Obtém entradas encadeadas a partir de um único argumento iterável que avaliado preguiçosamente. Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def from_iterable(iterables):
    # chain.from_iterable(['ABC', 'DEF']) --> A B C D E F
    for it in iterables:
        for element in it:
            yield element

itertools.combinations(iterable, r)

Devolve subsequências de elementos com comprimento r a partir da entrada iterável

Combinations are emitted in lexicographic sort order. So, if the input iterable is sorted, the combination tuples will be produced in sorted order.

Os elementos são tratados como únicos baseado em suas posições, não em seus valores. Portanto se os elementos de entrada são únicos, não haverá repetição de valores nas sucessivas combinações.

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def combinations(iterable, r):
    # combinations('ABCD', 2) --> AB AC AD BC BD CD
    # combinations(range(4), 3) --> 012 013 023 123
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    if r > n:
        return
    indices = list(range(r))
    yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)
    while True:
        for i in reversed(range(r)):
            if indices[i] != i + n - r:
                break
        else:
            return
        indices[i] += 1
        for j in range(i+1, r):
            indices[j] = indices[j-1] + 1
        yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

O código para combinations() também pode ser expresso como uma subsequência de permutations() depois de filtradas as entradas onde os elementos não estão ordenandos (de acordo com a sua posição na entrada):

def combinations(iterable, r):
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    for indices in permutations(range(n), r):
        if sorted(indices) == list(indices):
            yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

O número de itens devolvidos é n! / r! / (n-r)! quando 0 <= r <= n ou zero quando r > n.

itertools.combinations_with_replacement(iterable, r)

Devolve subsequências de comprimento r de elementos do iterável de entrada permitindo que elementos individuais sejam repetidos mais de uma vez.

Combinations are emitted in lexicographic sort order. So, if the input iterable is sorted, the combination tuples will be produced in sorted order.

Os elementos são tratados como únicos baseado em suas posições, não em seus valores. Portanto se os elementos de entrada forem únicos, não haverá repetição de valores nas combinações geradas.

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def combinations_with_replacement(iterable, r):
    # combinations_with_replacement('ABC', 2) --> AA AB AC BB BC CC
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    if not n and r:
        return
    indices = [0] * r
    yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)
    while True:
        for i in reversed(range(r)):
            if indices[i] != n - 1:
                break
        else:
            return
        indices[i:] = [indices[i] + 1] * (r - i)
        yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

O código para combinations_with_replacement() também pode ser expresso como uma subsequência de product() depois de filtradas as entradas onde os elementos não estão ordenados (de acordo com a sua posição na entrada):

def combinations_with_replacement(iterable, r):
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    for indices in product(range(n), repeat=r):
        if sorted(indices) == list(indices):
            yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

O número de itens devolvidos é (n+r-1)! / r! / (n-1)! quando n > 0.

Novo na versão 3.1.

itertools.compress(data, selectors)

Crie um iterador que filtra elementos de data devolvendo apenas aqueles que tem um elemento correspondente em selectors que seja avaliado True. Interrompe quando os iteráveis data ou selectors tiveram sido esgotados. Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def compress(data, selectors):
    # compress('ABCDEF', [1,0,1,0,1,1]) --> A C E F
    return (d for d, s in zip(data, selectors) if s)

Novo na versão 3.1.

itertools.count(start=0, step=1)

Crie um iterador que devolve valores igualmente espaçados começando pelo número start. Frequentemente usado com um argumento da função map() para gerar pontos de dados consecutivos. Também usado com zip() para adicionar números sequenciais. Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def count(start=0, step=1):
    # count(10) --> 10 11 12 13 14 ...
    # count(2.5, 0.5) -> 2.5 3.0 3.5 ...
    n = start
    while True:
        yield n
        n += step

Quando é feita uma contagem usando números de ponto flutuante, é possível ter melhor precisão substituindo código multiplicativo como (start + step * i for i in count()).

Alterado na versão 3.1: Adicionou argumento step e permitiu argumentos não-inteiros.

itertools.cycle(iterable)

Crie um iterador que devolve elementos do iterável assim como salva uma cópia de cada um. Quando o iterável é esgotado, devolve elementos da cópia salva. Repete indefinidamente. Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def cycle(iterable):
    # cycle('ABCD') --> A B C D A B C D A B C D ...
    saved = []
    for element in iterable:
        yield element
        saved.append(element)
    while saved:
        for element in saved:
              yield element

Note, this member of the toolkit may require significant auxiliary storage (depending on the length of the iterable).

itertools.dropwhile(predicate, iterable)

Make an iterator that drops elements from the iterable as long as the predicate is true; afterwards, returns every element. Note, the iterator does not produce any output until the predicate first becomes false, so it may have a lengthy start-up time. Roughly equivalent to:

def dropwhile(predicate, iterable):
    # dropwhile(lambda x: x<5, [1,4,6,4,1]) --> 6 4 1
    iterable = iter(iterable)
    for x in iterable:
        if not predicate(x):
            yield x
            break
    for x in iterable:
        yield x

itertools.filterfalse(predicate, iterable)

Make an iterator that filters elements from iterable returning only those for which the predicate is False. If predicate is None, return the items that are false. Roughly equivalent to:

def filterfalse(predicate, iterable):
    # filterfalse(lambda x: x%2, range(10)) --> 0 2 4 6 8
    if predicate is None:
        predicate = bool
    for x in iterable:
        if not predicate(x):
            yield x

itertools.groupby(iterable, key=None)

Make an iterator that returns consecutive keys and groups from the iterable. The key is a function computing a key value for each element. If not specified or is None, key defaults to an identity function and returns the element unchanged. Generally, the iterable needs to already be sorted on the same key function.

The operation of groupby() is similar to the uniq filter in Unix. It generates a break or new group every time the value of the key function changes (which is why it is usually necessary to have sorted the data using the same key function). That behavior differs from SQL’s GROUP BY which aggregates common elements regardless of their input order.

The returned group is itself an iterator that shares the underlying iterable with groupby(). Because the source is shared, when the groupby() object is advanced, the previous group is no longer visible. So, if that data is needed later, it should be stored as a list:

groups = []
uniquekeys = []
data = sorted(data, key=keyfunc)
for k, g in groupby(data, keyfunc):
    groups.append(list(g))      # Store group iterator as a list
    uniquekeys.append(k)

groupby() é aproximadamente equivalente a:

class groupby:
    # [k for k, g in groupby('AAAABBBCCDAABBB')] --> A B C D A B
    # [list(g) for k, g in groupby('AAAABBBCCD')] --> AAAA BBB CC D
    def __init__(self, iterable, key=None):
        if key is None:
            key = lambda x: x
        self.keyfunc = key
        self.it = iter(iterable)
        self.tgtkey = self.currkey = self.currvalue = object()
    def __iter__(self):
        return self
    def __next__(self):
        self.id = object()
        while self.currkey == self.tgtkey:
            self.currvalue = next(self.it)    # Exit on StopIteration
            self.currkey = self.keyfunc(self.currvalue)
        self.tgtkey = self.currkey
        return (self.currkey, self._grouper(self.tgtkey, self.id))
    def _grouper(self, tgtkey, id):
        while self.id is id and self.currkey == tgtkey:
            yield self.currvalue
            try:
                self.currvalue = next(self.it)
            except StopIteration:
                return
            self.currkey = self.keyfunc(self.currvalue)

itertools.islice(iterable, stop)

itertools.islice(iterable, start, stop[, step])

Make an iterator that returns selected elements from the iterable. If start is non-zero, then elements from the iterable are skipped until start is reached. Afterward, elements are returned consecutively unless step is set higher than one which results in items being skipped. If stop is None, then iteration continues until the iterator is exhausted, if at all; otherwise, it stops at the specified position. Unlike regular slicing, islice() does not support negative values for start, stop, or step. Can be used to extract related fields from data where the internal structure has been flattened (for example, a multi-line report may list a name field on every third line). Roughly equivalent to:

def islice(iterable, *args):
    # islice('ABCDEFG', 2) --> A B
    # islice('ABCDEFG', 2, 4) --> C D
    # islice('ABCDEFG', 2, None) --> C D E F G
    # islice('ABCDEFG', 0, None, 2) --> A C E G
    s = slice(*args)
    start, stop, step = s.start or 0, s.stop or sys.maxsize, s.step or 1
    it = iter(range(start, stop, step))
    try:
        nexti = next(it)
    except StopIteration:
        # Consume *iterable* up to the *start* position.
        for i, element in zip(range(start), iterable):
            pass
        return
    try:
        for i, element in enumerate(iterable):
            if i == nexti:
                yield element
                nexti = next(it)
    except StopIteration:
        # Consume to *stop*.
        for i, element in zip(range(i + 1, stop), iterable):
            pass

If start is None, then iteration starts at zero. If step is None, then the step defaults to one.

itertools.permutations(iterable, r=None)

Return successive r length permutations of elements in the iterable.

If r is not specified or is None, then r defaults to the length of the iterable and all possible full-length permutations are generated.

Permutations are emitted in lexicographic sort order. So, if the input iterable is sorted, the permutation tuples will be produced in sorted order.

Elements are treated as unique based on their position, not on their value. So if the input elements are unique, there will be no repeat values in each permutation.

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def permutations(iterable, r=None):
    # permutations('ABCD', 2) --> AB AC AD BA BC BD CA CB CD DA DB DC
    # permutations(range(3)) --> 012 021 102 120 201 210
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    r = n if r is None else r
    if r > n:
        return
    indices = list(range(n))
    cycles = list(range(n, n-r, -1))
    yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices[:r])
    while n:
        for i in reversed(range(r)):
            cycles[i] -= 1
            if cycles[i] == 0:
                indices[i:] = indices[i+1:] + indices[i:i+1]
                cycles[i] = n - i
            else:
                j = cycles[i]
                indices[i], indices[-j] = indices[-j], indices[i]
                yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices[:r])
                break
        else:
            return

O código para permutations() também pode ser expresso como uma subsequência de product() depois de filtradas as entradas com elementos repetidos (os de mesma posição no conjunto de entrada):

def permutations(iterable, r=None):
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    r = n if r is None else r
    for indices in product(range(n), repeat=r):
        if len(set(indices)) == r:
            yield tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

O número de itens retornado é n! / (n-r)! quando 0 <= r <= n ou zero quando r > n.

itertools.product(*iterables, repeat=1)

Produto cartesiano de iteráveis de entrada

Aproximadamente equivalente a laços for aninhados em uma expressão geradora. Por exemplo, product(A, B) devolve o mesmo que ((x,y) for x in A for y in B).

Os laços aninhados circulam como um hodômetro com o elemento mais à direita avançando a cada iteração. Este padrão cria uma ordenação lexicográfica de maneira que se os iteráveis de entrada estiverem ordenados, as tuplas produzidas são emitidas de maneira ordenada.

To compute the product of an iterable with itself, specify the number of repetitions with the optional repeat keyword argument. For example, product(A, repeat=4) means the same as product(A, A, A, A).

This function is roughly equivalent to the following code, except that the actual implementation does not build up intermediate results in memory:

def product(*args, repeat=1):
    # product('ABCD', 'xy') --> Ax Ay Bx By Cx Cy Dx Dy
    # product(range(2), repeat=3) --> 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111
    pools = [tuple(pool) for pool in args] * repeat
    result = [[]]
    for pool in pools:
        result = [x+[y] for x in result for y in pool]
    for prod in result:
        yield tuple(prod)

itertools.repeat(object[, times])

Make an iterator that returns object over and over again. Runs indefinitely unless the times argument is specified. Used as argument to map() for invariant parameters to the called function. Also used with zip() to create an invariant part of a tuple record.

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def repeat(object, times=None):
    # repeat(10, 3) --> 10 10 10
    if times is None:
        while True:
            yield object
    else:
        for i in range(times):
            yield object

A common use for repeat is to supply a stream of constant values to map or zip:

>>> list(map(pow, range(10), repeat(2)))
[0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81]

itertools.starmap(function, iterable)

Make an iterator that computes the function using arguments obtained from the iterable. Used instead of map() when argument parameters are already grouped in tuples from a single iterable (the data has been “pre-zipped”). The difference between map() and starmap() parallels the distinction between function(a,b) and function(*c). Roughly equivalent to:

def starmap(function, iterable):
    # starmap(pow, [(2,5), (3,2), (10,3)]) --> 32 9 1000
    for args in iterable:
        yield function(*args)

itertools.takewhile(predicate, iterable)

Make an iterator that returns elements from the iterable as long as the predicate is true. Roughly equivalent to:

def takewhile(predicate, iterable):
    # takewhile(lambda x: x<5, [1,4,6,4,1]) --> 1 4
    for x in iterable:
        if predicate(x):
            yield x
        else:
            break

itertools.tee(iterable, n=2)

Return n independent iterators from a single iterable.

The following Python code helps explain what tee does (although the actual implementation is more complex and uses only a single underlying FIFO queue).

Aproximadamente equivalente a:

def tee(iterable, n=2):
    it = iter(iterable)
    deques = [collections.deque() for i in range(n)]
    def gen(mydeque):
        while True:
            if not mydeque:             # when the local deque is empty
                try:
                    newval = next(it)   # fetch a new value and
                except StopIteration:
                    return
                for d in deques:        # load it to all the deques
                    d.append(newval)
            yield mydeque.popleft()
    return tuple(gen(d) for d in deques)

Once tee() has made a split, the original iterable should not be used anywhere else; otherwise, the iterable could get advanced without the tee objects being informed.

tee iterators are not threadsafe. A RuntimeError may be raised when using simultaneously iterators returned by the same tee() call, even if the original iterable is threadsafe.

This itertool may require significant auxiliary storage (depending on how much temporary data needs to be stored). In general, if one iterator uses most or all of the data before another iterator starts, it is faster to use list() instead of tee().

itertools.zip_longest(*iterables, fillvalue=None)

Make an iterator that aggregates elements from each of the iterables. If the iterables are of uneven length, missing values are filled-in with fillvalue. Iteration continues until the longest iterable is exhausted. Roughly equivalent to:

def zip_longest(*args, fillvalue=None):
    # zip_longest('ABCD', 'xy', fillvalue='-') --> Ax By C- D-
    iterators = [iter(it) for it in args]
    num_active = len(iterators)
    if not num_active:
        return
    while True:
        values = []
        for i, it in enumerate(iterators):
            try:
                value = next(it)
            except StopIteration:
                num_active -= 1
                if not num_active:
                    return
                iterators[i] = repeat(fillvalue)
                value = fillvalue
            values.append(value)
        yield tuple(values)

Se um dos iteráveis é potencialmente infinito, então a função zip_longest() deve ser embrulhada por algo que limite o número de chamadas (por exemplo islice() ou takewhile()). Se não especificado, fillvalue tem o valor padrão None.

Receitas com itertools

Esta seção mostra receitas para criação de um ferramental ampliado usando as ferramentas existentes de itertools como elementos construtivos.

The extended tools offer the same high performance as the underlying toolset. The superior memory performance is kept by processing elements one at a time rather than bringing the whole iterable into memory all at once. Code volume is kept small by linking the tools together in a functional style which helps eliminate temporary variables. High speed is retained by preferring “vectorized” building blocks over the use of for-loops and generators which incur interpreter overhead.

def take(n, iterable):
    "Return first n items of the iterable as a list"
    return list(islice(iterable, n))

def prepend(value, iterator):
    "Prepend a single value in front of an iterator"
    # prepend(1, [2, 3, 4]) -> 1 2 3 4
    return chain([value], iterator)

def tabulate(function, start=0):
    "Return function(0), function(1), ..."
    return map(function, count(start))

def tail(n, iterable):
    "Return an iterator over the last n items"
    # tail(3, 'ABCDEFG') --> E F G
    return iter(collections.deque(iterable, maxlen=n))

def consume(iterator, n=None):
    "Advance the iterator n-steps ahead. If n is None, consume entirely."
    # Use functions that consume iterators at C speed.
    if n is None:
        # feed the entire iterator into a zero-length deque
        collections.deque(iterator, maxlen=0)
    else:
        # advance to the empty slice starting at position n
        next(islice(iterator, n, n), None)

def nth(iterable, n, default=None):
    "Returns the nth item or a default value"
    return next(islice(iterable, n, None), default)

def all_equal(iterable):
    "Returns True if all the elements are equal to each other"
    g = groupby(iterable)
    return next(g, True) and not next(g, False)

def quantify(iterable, pred=bool):
    "Count how many times the predicate is true"
    return sum(map(pred, iterable))

def padnone(iterable):
    """Returns the sequence elements and then returns None indefinitely.

    Useful for emulating the behavior of the built-in map() function.
    """
    return chain(iterable, repeat(None))

def ncycles(iterable, n):
    "Returns the sequence elements n times"
    return chain.from_iterable(repeat(tuple(iterable), n))

def dotproduct(vec1, vec2):
    return sum(map(operator.mul, vec1, vec2))

def flatten(listOfLists):
    "Flatten one level of nesting"
    return chain.from_iterable(listOfLists)

def repeatfunc(func, times=None, *args):
    """Repeat calls to func with specified arguments.

    Example:  repeatfunc(random.random)
    """
    if times is None:
        return starmap(func, repeat(args))
    return starmap(func, repeat(args, times))

def pairwise(iterable):
    "s -> (s0,s1), (s1,s2), (s2, s3), ..."
    a, b = tee(iterable)
    next(b, None)
    return zip(a, b)

def grouper(iterable, n, fillvalue=None):
    "Collect data into fixed-length chunks or blocks"
    # grouper('ABCDEFG', 3, 'x') --> ABC DEF Gxx"
    args = [iter(iterable)] * n
    return zip_longest(*args, fillvalue=fillvalue)

def roundrobin(*iterables):
    "roundrobin('ABC', 'D', 'EF') --> A D E B F C"
    # Recipe credited to George Sakkis
    num_active = len(iterables)
    nexts = cycle(iter(it).__next__ for it in iterables)
    while num_active:
        try:
            for next in nexts:
                yield next()
        except StopIteration:
            # Remove the iterator we just exhausted from the cycle.
            num_active -= 1
            nexts = cycle(islice(nexts, num_active))

def partition(pred, iterable):
    'Use a predicate to partition entries into false entries and true entries'
    # partition(is_odd, range(10)) --> 0 2 4 6 8   and  1 3 5 7 9
    t1, t2 = tee(iterable)
    return filterfalse(pred, t1), filter(pred, t2)

def powerset(iterable):
    "powerset([1,2,3]) --> () (1,) (2,) (3,) (1,2) (1,3) (2,3) (1,2,3)"
    s = list(iterable)
    return chain.from_iterable(combinations(s, r) for r in range(len(s)+1))

def unique_everseen(iterable, key=None):
    "List unique elements, preserving order. Remember all elements ever seen."
    # unique_everseen('AAAABBBCCDAABBB') --> A B C D
    # unique_everseen('ABBCcAD', str.lower) --> A B C D
    seen = set()
    seen_add = seen.add
    if key is None:
        for element in filterfalse(seen.__contains__, iterable):
            seen_add(element)
            yield element
    else:
        for element in iterable:
            k = key(element)
            if k not in seen:
                seen_add(k)
                yield element

def unique_justseen(iterable, key=None):
    "List unique elements, preserving order. Remember only the element just seen."
    # unique_justseen('AAAABBBCCDAABBB') --> A B C D A B
    # unique_justseen('ABBCcAD', str.lower) --> A B C A D
    return map(next, map(itemgetter(1), groupby(iterable, key)))

def iter_except(func, exception, first=None):
    """ Call a function repeatedly until an exception is raised.

    Converts a call-until-exception interface to an iterator interface.
    Like builtins.iter(func, sentinel) but uses an exception instead
    of a sentinel to end the loop.

    Examples:
        iter_except(functools.partial(heappop, h), IndexError)   # priority queue iterator
        iter_except(d.popitem, KeyError)                         # non-blocking dict iterator
        iter_except(d.popleft, IndexError)                       # non-blocking deque iterator
        iter_except(q.get_nowait, Queue.Empty)                   # loop over a producer Queue
        iter_except(s.pop, KeyError)                             # non-blocking set iterator

    """
    try:
        if first is not None:
            yield first()            # For database APIs needing an initial cast to db.first()
        while True:
            yield func()
    except exception:
        pass

def first_true(iterable, default=False, pred=None):
    """Returns the first true value in the iterable.

    If no true value is found, returns *default*

    If *pred* is not None, returns the first item
    for which pred(item) is true.

    """
    # first_true([a,b,c], x) --> a or b or c or x
    # first_true([a,b], x, f) --> a if f(a) else b if f(b) else x
    return next(filter(pred, iterable), default)

def random_product(*args, repeat=1):
    "Random selection from itertools.product(*args, **kwds)"
    pools = [tuple(pool) for pool in args] * repeat
    return tuple(random.choice(pool) for pool in pools)

def random_permutation(iterable, r=None):
    "Random selection from itertools.permutations(iterable, r)"
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    r = len(pool) if r is None else r
    return tuple(random.sample(pool, r))

def random_combination(iterable, r):
    "Random selection from itertools.combinations(iterable, r)"
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    indices = sorted(random.sample(range(n), r))
    return tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

def random_combination_with_replacement(iterable, r):
    "Random selection from itertools.combinations_with_replacement(iterable, r)"
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    indices = sorted(random.randrange(n) for i in range(r))
    return tuple(pool[i] for i in indices)

def nth_combination(iterable, r, index):
    'Equivalent to list(combinations(iterable, r))[index]'
    pool = tuple(iterable)
    n = len(pool)
    if r < 0 or r > n:
        raise ValueError
    c = 1
    k = min(r, n-r)
    for i in range(1, k+1):
        c = c * (n - k + i) // i
    if index < 0:
        index += c
    if index < 0 or index >= c:
        raise IndexError
    result = []
    while r:
        c, n, r = c*r//n, n-1, r-1
        while index >= c:
            index -= c
            c, n = c*(n-r)//n, n-1
        result.append(pool[-1-n])
    return tuple(result)

Note, many of the above recipes can be optimized by replacing global lookups with local variables defined as default values. For example, the dotproduct recipe can be written as:

def dotproduct(vec1, vec2, sum=sum, map=map, mul=operator.mul):
    return sum(map(mul, vec1, vec2))