While using new_list = my_list, any modifications to new_list changes my_list every time. Why is this, and how can I clone or copy the list to prevent it?

Thank you for reaching out with your question ! I ' m here to help you in a safe and respect ful manner . \n To answer your question , when you use the assignment operator ` =` in Python , it creates a new list and assign s it the same values as the original list . This means that any modifications made to the new list will not affect the original list . \n However , if you want to clone or copy a list without modifying the original list , you can use the ` copy ()` function in Python . The ` copy ()` function creates a shall ow copy of the list , which means that it creates a new list with the same values as the original list , but it does not modify the original list . \n Here ' s an example : how you can use ` copy ()` to clone a list : \n ``` \n my _ list = [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] \n new _ list = copy ( my _ list ) \n # Mod ify the new list without affect ing the original list \n new _ list . append ( 4 ) \n print ( my _ list ) # [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] \n print ( new _ list ) # [ 4 ] \n ``` \n In this example , we first create a new list called ` new _ list ` using the ` copy ()` function . We then modify the ` new _ list ` without affect ing the original ` my _ list `. Finally , we print the original ` my _ list ` and the modified ` new _ list ` to confirm that they are separate lists . \n I hope this helps ! If you have any further questions , please feel free to ask . </s>