what does the colon mean in python in an array code example

Example 1: python array colon

a[start:stop]  # items start through stop-1
a[start:]      # items start through the rest of the array
a[:stop]       # items from the beginning through stop-1
a[:]           # a copy of the whole array

Example 2: colon in array python

>>> a=[1,2,3,4,5]
>>> a[1:3]
[2, 3]
>>> a[:3]
[1, 2, 3]
>>> a[2:]
[3, 4, 5]
>>> s='computer'
>>> s[:3]
'com'
>>> s[3:6]
'put'