Python Queue-Like Container

Question

I would like a container to do the following in python 2-7:

I need that container to behave like a queue: first in first out, I append to it objects and then get them in the same order "from the other end".

However I also need to be able to read up to 5 objects from the beginning of the queue without popping them, then if I don't need them anymore I will pop them from the queue.

I am new to python and I need to know is there any container that would act as such? Or any easy simple implementation for it?

Answer 1

I'm fairly certain you want a deque from the collections module. It includes (among other things) append, pop, pop_left, and rotate methods, and also supports indexing. Indexing slows toward the middle, but is fast at the ends.

Answer 2

See this module from the standard library. It should provide you with everything you want.

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/programming/python/9780132778633/data-structures/ch02lev1sec5

import Queue

q = Queue.Queue()

for i in range(5):
    q.put(i)

while not q.empty():
    print q.get(),
print