One‑Line Python Tricks: Image Stacking and Creative One‑Liner Examples

The author has 109 head CT slice images and demonstrates how to read them into a 4‑channel NumPy ndarray using Pillow, showing a concise one‑line solution that loads all images in 172 ms.

Typical multi‑line approach is also presented for comparison.

Typical multi‑line approach:

import numpy as np
from PIL import Image

One‑line loading:

data = np.stack([np.array(Image.open('head%d.png'%i)) for i in range(109)], axis=0)

Inspired by a Zhihu article about extreme one‑line Python tricks, the author shares several creative examples, each implemented in a single line of code.

1. One‑line multiplication table:

print('\n'.join([' '.join(["%2s x%2s = %2s"%(j,i,i*j) for j in range(1,i+1)]) for i in range(1,10)]))

2. One‑line maze printer:

print(''.join(__import__('random').choice('\u2571\u2572') for i in range(50*24)))

3. One‑line love message (ASCII art):

print('\n'.join([''.join([('Love'[(x-y) % len('Love')] if ((x*0.05)**2+(y*0.1)**2-1)**3-(x*0.05)**2*(y*0.1)**3 <= 0 else ' ') for x in range(-30, 30)]) for y in range(30, -30, -1)]))

4. One‑line turtle graphics:

print('\n'.join([''.join(['*' if abs((lambda a:lambda z,c,n:a(a,z,c,n))(lambda s,z,c,n:z if n==0 else s(s,z*z+c,c,n-1))(0,0.02*x+0.05j*y,40))<2 else ' ') for x in range(-80,20)]) for y in range(-20,20)]))

The post invites readers to share their own exciting one‑line Python creations.