= a[:] >>> b[8:8] = ['i'] # Make an insertion >>> b[20] += 'x' # Make a replacement >>> b[23:28] = [] # Make a deletion >>> b[30] += 'y' # Make another replacement >>> pprint(list(SequenceMatcher(None,a,b).get_grouped_opcodes())) [[('equal', 5, 8, 5, 8), ('insert', 8, 8, 8, 9), ('equal', 8, 11, 9, 12)], [('equal', 16, 19, 17, 20), ('replace', 19, 20, 20, 21), ('equal', 20, 22, 21, 23), ('delete', 22, 27, 23, 23), ('equal', 27, 30, 23, 26)], [('equal', 31, 34, 27, 30), ('replace', 34, 35, 30, 31), ('equal', 35, 38, 31, 34)]] )