Help on function reshape in module numpy.core.fromnumeric:
reshape(a, newshape, order='C')
Gives a new shape to an array without changing its data.
Parameters
----------
a : array_like
Array to be reshaped.
newshape : int or tuple of ints
The new shape should be compatible with the original shape. If
an integer, then the result will be a 1-D array of that length.
One shape dimension can be -1. In this case, the value is
inferred from the length of the array and remaining dimensions.
order : {'C', 'F', 'A'}, optional
Read the elements of `a` using this index order, and place the
elements into the reshaped array using this index order. 'C'
means to read / write the elements using C-like index order,
with the last axis index changing fastest, back to the first
axis index changing slowest. 'F' means to read / write the
elements using Fortran-like index order, with the first index
changing fastest, and the last index changing slowest. Note that
the 'C' and 'F' options take no account of the memory layout of
the underlying array, and only refer to the order of indexing.
'A' means to read / write the elements in Fortran-like index
order if `a` is Fortran *contiguous* in memory, C-like order
otherwise.
Returns
-------
reshaped_array : ndarray
This will be a new view object if possible; otherwise, it will
be a copy. Note there is no guarantee of the *memory layout* (C- or
Fortran- contiguous) of the returned array.
See Also
--------
ndarray.reshape : Equivalent method.
Notes
-----
It is not always possible to change the shape of an array without
copying the data. If you want an error to be raise if the data is copied,
you should assign the new shape to the shape attribute of the array::
>>> a = np.zeros((10, 2))
# A transpose make the array non-contiguous
>>> b = a.T
# Taking a view makes it possible to modify the shape without modifying
# the initial object.
>>> c = b.view()
>>> c.shape = (20)
AttributeError: incompatible shape for a non-contiguous array
The `order` keyword gives the index ordering both for *fetching* the values
from `a`, and then *placing* the values into the output array.
For example, let's say you have an array:
>>> a = np.arange(6).reshape((3, 2))
>>> a
array([[0, 1],
[2, 3],
[4, 5]])
You can think of reshaping as first raveling the array (using the given
index order), then inserting the elements from the raveled array into the
new array using the same kind of index ordering as was used for the
raveling.
>>> np.reshape(a, (2, 3)) # C-like index ordering
array([[0, 1, 2],
[3, 4, 5]])
>>> np.reshape(np.ravel(a), (2, 3)) # equivalent to C ravel then C reshape
array([[0, 1, 2],
[3, 4, 5]])
>>> np.reshape(a, (2, 3), order='F') # Fortran-like index ordering
array([[0, 4, 3],
[2, 1, 5]])
>>> np.reshape(np.ravel(a, order='F'), (2, 3), order='F')
array([[0, 4, 3],
[2, 1, 5]])
Examples
--------
>>> a = np.array([[1,2,3], [4,5,6]])
>>> np.reshape(a, 6)
array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6])
>>> np.reshape(a, 6, order='F')
array([1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6])
>>> np.reshape(a, (3,-1)) # the unspecified value is inferred to be 2
array([[1, 2],
[3, 4],
[5, 6]])