Insert an element at a specific index in a list and return the updated list

Question

I have this:

>>> a = [1, 2, 4]
>>> print a
[1, 2, 4]

>>> print a.insert(2, 3)
None

>>> print a
[1, 2, 3, 4]

>>> b = a.insert(3, 6)
>>> print b
None

>>> print a
[1, 2, 3, 6, 4]

Is there a way I can get the updated list as the result, instead of updating the original list in place?

Answer 1

l.insert(index, obj) doesn't actually return anything. It just updates the list.

As ATO said, you can do b = a[:index] + [obj] + a[index:]. However, another way is:

a = [1, 2, 4]
b = a[:]
b.insert(2, 3)