Incorrect output when testing for palindromes using Python.

Question

I'm writing a program to identify palindromes using Python, using lists. However, my program always states that the input word is a palindrome, even if it clearly isn't

word = input("Type a word, and I'll tell you if it's a palidrome or not: ")

word = " ".join(word)

new_word = word.split() #forms a list from user-inputted word

print(new_word)

variable = new_word

variable.reverse() #reverses word list 

print(variable)

if variable == new_word:

    print("This is a palidrome")

else:

    print("This is not a palidrome")

Answer 1

This is because on line 5, when you use variable = new_word, instead of copying the value of new_word into variable it merely creates a pointer. So, now both variable and new_word are pointing to the same value in memory. Later on, when you reverse new_word and then compare variable and new_word it will always return true as they are both pointing to the same variable.

To avoid this you can use the deepcopy method in copy module like this:

import copy

variable = copy.deepcopy(new_word)