In [24]: a = np.arange(0,20,1).reshape(4,5) In [25]: b = np.ma.masked_where(a%6==0, a) In [26]: b Out[26]: masked_array(data = [[-- 1 2 3 4] [5 -- 7 8 9] [10 11 -- 13 14] [15 16 17 -- 19]], mask = [[ True False False False False] [False True False False False] [False False True False False] [False False False True False]], fill_value = 999999)