Randomise network while maintaining topology of nodes using edge-swap approach

[ichabod801]

I would do your zip differently:

paired_lists = zip(list_of_edges[::2], list_of_edges[1::2])

Mainly because the above version works in Python 3.x, but whatever.

As to odd length lists of edges, I would just have an if clause at the end of the inner loop, and swap the extra item with the last item in the swapped list:

if len(list_of_edges) % 2:
    pair1 = pair_lambda(list_of_edges[-1])
    pair2 = pair_lambda(new_list.pop())
    # swap pairs and append to new_list

I wouldn't use lambdas for your functions, I would define actual functions. Lambdas are for one off functions, which yours are not. Also, since you are doing the swapping in the inner loop and in the if clause, I would make a function for that.

This works, my main concern is that it may not generate all possible reorderings with the same probability. Of course, if your list of edges has 200,000 items, that's probably not possible without being able to generate true random numbers.