extend() can be used with an iterator argument. Here is an example. You wish to make a list out of a list of lists this way:

from

list2d = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6], [7], [8,9]]

you want

>>> 
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

You may use itertools.chain.from_iterable() to do so. This method's output is an iterator. It's implementation is equivalent to

def from_iterable(iterables):
    # chain.from_iterable(['ABC', 'DEF']) --> A B C D E F
    for it in iterables:
        for element in it:
            yield element

Back to our example, we can do

import itertools
list2d = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6], [7], [8,9]]
merged = list(itertools.chain.from_iterable(list2d))

and get the wanted list.

Here is how equivalently extend() can be used with an iterator argument:

merged = []
merged.extend(itertools.chain.from_iterable(list2d))
print(merged)
>>> 
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

extend() can be used with an iterator argument. Here is an example. You wish to make a list out of a list of lists this way:

From

list2d = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6], [7], [8,9]]

you want

>>>
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

You may use itertools.chain.from_iterable() to do so. This method's output is an iterator. Its implementation is equivalent to

def from_iterable(iterables):
    # chain.from_iterable(['ABC', 'DEF']) --> A B C D E F
    for it in iterables:
        for element in it:
            yield element

Back to our example, we can do

import itertools
list2d = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6], [7], [8,9]]
merged = list(itertools.chain.from_iterable(list2d))

and get the wanted list.

Here is how equivalently extend() can be used with an iterator argument:

merged = []
merged.extend(itertools.chain.from_iterable(list2d))
print(merged)
>>>
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]