Source: 📖 Effective Python item 12

Striding syntax explained

The term striding refers to the size of the jump taken when going through a list. This allows you to make a copy of a list that only contains every nth term. The syntax is my_list[start:end:stridesize].

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
stride_list = my_list[::2]	# copy every 2nd term

print(stride_list)

>>>
[1, 3, 5]

Here the stride value of 2 means every second item in the original list is copied, starting from the first item and finishing with the last as indicated by the [:] [start:end] syntax.

See also:

• Slicing a copy of a list