import array as ar def slip_beginnings(x): # returns indicies i for which x[i-1]=0 and x[i]>0 starts = ar.array('i', (0 for i in range(len(x)))) prev = False length = 0 for i in range(len(x)): if (not prev and x[i]): starts[length] = i length += 1 prev = x[i] return starts[:length]