Transposing a NumPy array

python numpy transpose
thaking picture thaking · May 10, 2011 · Viewed 411.6k times · Source

I use Python and NumPy and have some problems with "transpose":

import numpy as np
a = np.array([5,4])
print(a)
print(a.T)

Invoking a.T is not transposing the array. If a is for example [[],[]] then it transposes correctly, but I need the transpose of [...,...,...].

Answer

Joe Kington picture Joe Kington · May 10, 2011

It's working exactly as it's supposed to. The transpose of a 1D array is still a 1D array! (If you're used to matlab, it fundamentally doesn't have a concept of a 1D array. Matlab's "1D" arrays are 2D.)

If you want to turn your 1D vector into a 2D array and then transpose it, just slice it with np.newaxis (or None, they're the same, newaxis is just more readable).

import numpy as np
a = np.array([5,4])[np.newaxis]
print(a)
print(a.T)

Generally speaking though, you don't ever need to worry about this. Adding the extra dimension is usually not what you want, if you're just doing it out of habit. Numpy will automatically broadcast a 1D array when doing various calculations. There's usually no need to distinguish between a row vector and a column vector (neither of which are vectors. They're both 2D!) when you just want a vector.

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