Convert NumPy array to list in python

In this article we will discuss how to convert a 1D or 2D or 3D Numpy Array to a list or list of lists.

Convert Numpy Array to List

ndarray class of Numpy Module in Python provides a member function tolist(), which returns a list containing the copy of elements in array. So, we can use that to convert a numpy array to a list. For example,

import numpy as np

# Create a Numpy Array
arr = np.array([11, 22, 33, 44, 55])

print('Numpy Array:', arr)

# Convert Numpy Array to list
num_list = arr.tolist()

print('List: ', num_list)

Output:

Numpy Array: [11 22 33 44 55]
List:  [11, 22, 33, 44, 55]

numpy.ndarray.tolist() function returns a list (nested if required) containing copy of elements. But what if we try to convert a 2D Numpy array to list?

Convert 2D Numpy array to list of lists

When we call tolist() function on a 2D numpy Array, then it returns a nested list i.e. a list of lists in python. Also, all elements in the list of lists will be the copy of elements in 2D numpy array. For example,

import numpy as np

# Create 2D Numpy Array
arr = np.array([[1, 2, 3, 4],
                [5, 6, 7, 8],
                [3, 3, 3, 3]])

print('2D Numpy Array:')
print(arr)

# Convert Numpy Array to list of lists
list_of_lists = arr.tolist()

print('List of lists:')
print(list_of_lists)

Output:

2D Numpy Array:
[[1 2 3 4]
 [5 6 7 8]
 [3 3 3 3]]
List of lists:
[[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [3, 3, 3, 3]]

Convert 2D Numpy Array to a flattened list

numpy.ndarray.tolist() always returned a nested list for a 2D Numpy Array. But if we want to convert a 2D Numpy array to a flattened list i.e. a single list, then we need to first flattened the 2D Numpy array to 1D array and then call tolist() function on it. For example,

import numpy as np

# Create 2D Numpy Array
arr = np.array([[1, 2, 3, 4],
                [5, 6, 7, 8],
                [3, 3, 3, 3]])

print('2D Numpy Array:')
print(arr)

# Convert 2D Numpy array toa single list
num_list = arr.flatten().tolist()

print('List:', num_list)

Output:

import numpy as np

# Create 2D Numpy Array
arr = np.array([[1, 2, 3, 4],
                [5, 6, 7, 8],
                [3, 3, 3, 3]])

print('2D Numpy Array:')
print(arr)

# Convert 2D Numpy array toa single list
num_list = arr.flatten().tolist()

print('List:', num_list)

Convert 3D Numpy array to nested list

Similar to previous examples, we can use the tolist() function to convert a 3D Numpy array to list of nested lists. For example,

import numpy as np

# Create 3D Numpy Array
arr = np.ones( (2,4,5) , dtype=np.int64)

print('3D Numpy Array:')
print(arr)

# Convert 3D Numpy Array to nested list
nested_list = arr.tolist()

print('Nested list:')
print(nested_list)

Output:

3D Numpy Array:
[[[1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]]

 [[1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]]]
Nested list:
[[[1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1]],
 [[1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1]]]

Convert 3D Numpy Array to a flat list

To convert a 3D numpy array to a single flat list, we need to first flatten the 3D numpy array to a 1D numpy array using the flatten() function and then call tolist() on that flatten array to create flat list. For example,

import numpy as np

# Create 3D Numpy Array
arr = np.ones( (2,4,5) , dtype=np.int64)

print('3D Numpy Array:')
print(arr)

# Convert 3D Numpy Array to flat list
flat_list = arr.flatten().tolist()

print('Flat list:')
print(flat_list)

Output:

3D Numpy Array:
[[[1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]]

 [[1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]
  [1 1 1 1 1]]]
Flat list:
[1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]

Summary:

We learned how to convert a 1D / 2D / 3D Numpy array to list or list of lists in python.