If you are sure that you don’t care about what is inside the matrix in the beginning use
```python
M = numpy.empty((DIM_0, DIM_1, DIM_2,...))
```
Empty claims a region in the memory and uses it for a matrix. Zeros goes one step further. It fills the memory with zeros.
Thus random junk (i.e. data that was stored prior at that memory position) with be the content of a matrix if you use empty. However, np.empty() is faster than np.zeros().
## [From shape or value](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/routines.array-creation.html#from-shape-or-value)
|||
|---|---|
|[empty](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.empty.html#numpy.empty)(shape[, dtype, order, like])|Return a new array of given shape and type, without initializing entries.|
|[empty_like](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.empty_like.html#numpy.empty_like)(prototype[, dtype, order, subok, ...])|Return a new array with the same shape and type as a given array.|
|[eye](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.eye.html#numpy.eye)(N[, M, k, dtype, order, like])|Return a 2-D array with ones on the diagonal and zeros elsewhere.|
|[identity](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.identity.html#numpy.identity)(n[, dtype, like])|Return the identity array.|
|[ones](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ones.html#numpy.ones)(shape[, dtype, order, like])|Return a new array of given shape and type, filled with ones.|
|[ones_like](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.ones_like.html#numpy.ones_like)(a[, dtype, order, subok, shape])|Return an array of ones with the same shape and type as a given array.|
|[zeros](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.zeros.html#numpy.zeros)(shape[, dtype, order, like])|Return a new array of given shape and type, filled with zeros.|
|[zeros_like](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.zeros_like.html#numpy.zeros_like)(a[, dtype, order, subok, shape])|Return an array of zeros with the same shape and type as a given array.|
|[full](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.full.html#numpy.full)(shape, fill_value[, dtype, order, like])|Return a new array of given shape and type, filled with fill_value.|
|[full_like](https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.full_like.html#numpy.full_like)(a, fill_value[, dtype, order, ...])|Return a full array with the same shape and type as a given array.|