Create a 2D list out of 1D list

Try something like that:

In [53]: l = [0,1,2,3]

In [54]: def to_matrix(l, n):
    ...:     return [l[i:i+n] for i in xrange(0, len(l), n)]

In [55]: to_matrix(l,2)
Out[55]: [[0, 1], [2, 3]]

I think you should use numpy, which is purpose-built for working with matrices/arrays, rather than a list of lists. That would look like this:

>>> import numpy as np
>>> list_ = [0,1,2,3]
>>> a = np.array(list_).reshape(2,2)
>>> a
array([[0, 1],
       [2, 3]])
>>> a.shape
(2, 2)

Avoid calling a variable list as it shadows the built-in name.