def unzip(ls):    
    """
    >>> ls1, ls2, ls3 = ['/', '+', '-'], [1, 2, 3], ['a', 'b', 'c']     
    >>> ls1, ls2, ls3 = unzip(zip(ls1, ls2, ls3))
    >>> print ls1, ls2, ls3
    ['/', '+', '-'] [1, 2, 3] ['a', 'b', 'c']
    """    
    for x in map(lambda n: map(lambda x: x[n], ls), xrange(len(ls))):
        yield x
    
if __name__ == "__main__":
    import doctest
    doctest.testmod()

>>> list(unzip(zip(['/', '+', '-', ':'], [1, 2, 3, 4], ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])))
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 1, in ?
  File "<input>", line 8, in unzip
  File "<input>", line 8, in <lambda>
  File "<input>", line 8, in <lambda>
IndexError: tuple index out of range

def iunzip(ls):
    """
    >>> ls = ['/', '+', '-', ':'], [1, 2, 3, 4], ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    >>> list(iunzip(zip(*ls)))
    [['/', '+', '-', ':'], [1, 2, 3, 4], ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']]
    >>> list(iunzip([]))
    []
    """
    if ls:
        for x in map(lambda n: map(lambda x: x[n], ls), range(len(ls[0]))):
            yield x