Iterate over all suffixes of an iterable in Python.

tails.py

from itertools import islice
from itertools import tee


def tails(iterable):
    iterator = iter(iterable)
    while True:
        tail, iterator = tee(iterator)
        yield tail
        # Try to pop the next element of the iterable. If there are no          
        # more elements in the iterable, there are no more suffixes so          
        # we break out of the loop.                                             
        try:
            next(iterator)
        except StopIteration:
            break


def tails_recursive(iterable):
    iterator = iter(iterable)
    tail, iterator = tee(iterator)
    yield tail
    try:
        next(iterator)
    except StopIteration:
        return
    for tail in tails_recursive(iterator):
        yield tail


# This only works if the iterable also has a __len__ method.                    
def tails_islice(iterable):
    n = len(iterable)
    for tail in (islice(iterable, i, n) for i in range(n + 1)):
        yield tail