Copy a list of list by value and not reference

Because python passes lists by reference

This means that when you write "b=a" you're saying that a and b are the same object, and that when you change b you change also a, and viceversa

A way to copy a list by value:

new_list = old_list[:]

If the list contains objects and you want to copy them as well, use generic copy.deepcopy():

import copy
new_list = copy.deepcopy(old_list)

Since Python passes list by reference, A and B are the same objects. When you modify B you are also modifying A. This behavior can be demonstrated in a simple example:

>>> A = [1, 2, 3]
>>> def change(l):
...     b = l
...     b.append(4)
... 
>>> A
[1, 2, 3]
>>> change(A)
>>> A
[1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> 

If you need a copy of A use slice notation:

B = A[:]