PYTHON LISTS
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T he most basic data structure in Python is the sequenc e. Each element of a sequence is assig ned a number -
its position or index. T he first index is zero, the second index is one, and so forth.
Python has six built-in types of sequences, but the most common ones are lists and tuples, which we would see in
this tutorial.
T here are certain thing s you can do with all sequence types. T hese operations include indexing , slicing , adding ,
multiplying , and checking for membership. In addition, Python has built-in functions for finding the leng th of a
sequence and for finding its larg est and smallest elements.
Python Lists:
T he list is a most versatile datatype available in Python which can be written as a list of comma-separated values
(items) between square brackets. Good thing about a list is that items in a list need not all have the same type.
Creating a list is as simple as putting different comma-separated values between squere brackets. For example:
list1 = ['physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000];
list2 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ];
list3 = ["a", "b", "c", "d"];
Like string indices, list indices start at 0, and lists can be sliced, concatenated and so on.
Accessing Values in Lists:
T o access values in lists, use the square brackets for slicing along with the index or indices to obtain value
available at that index. Following is a simple example:
#!/usr/bin/python
list1 = ['physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000];
list2 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ];
print "list1[0]: ", list1[0]
print "list2[1:5]: ", list2[1:5]
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result:
list1[0]: physics
list2[1:5]: [2, 3, 4, 5]
Updating Lists:
You can update sing le or multiple elements of lists by g iving the slice on the left-hand side of the assig nment
operator, and you can add to elements in a list with the append() method. Following is a simple example:
#!/usr/bin/python
list = ['physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000];
print "Value available at index 2 : "
print list[2];
list[2] = 2001;
print "New value available at index 2 : "
print list[2];
Note: append() method is discussed in subsequent section.
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result:
Value available at index 2 :
1997
New value available at index 2 :
2001
Delete List Elements:
T o remove a list element, you can use either the del statement if you know exactly which element(s) you are
deleting or the remove() method if you do not know. Following is a simple example:
#!/usr/bin/python
list1 = ['physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000];
print list1;
del list1[2];
print "After deleting value at index 2 : "
print list1;
When the above code is executed, it produces following result:
['physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000]
After deleting value at index 2 :
['physics', 'chemistry', 2000]
Note: remove() method is discussed in subsequent section.
Basic List Operations:
Lists respond to the + and * operators much like string s; they mean concatenation and repetition here too,
except that the result is a new list, not a string .
In fact, lists respond to all of the g eneral sequence operations we used on string s in the prior chapter.
Python Expression Results Desc ription
len([1, 2, 3]) 3 Leng th
[1, 2, 3] + [4, 5, 6] [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Concatenation
['Hi!'] * 4 ['Hi!', 'Hi!', 'Hi!', 'Hi!'] Repetition
3 in [1, 2, 3] T rue Membership
for x in [1, 2, 3]: print x, 123 Iteration
Indexing , Slicing , and Matrixes:
Because lists are sequences, indexing and slicing work the same way for lists as they do for string s.
Assuming following input:
L = ['spam', 'Spam', 'SPAM!']
Python Expression Results Desc ription
L[2] 'SPAM!' Offsets start at zero
L[-2] 'Spam' Neg ative: count from the rig ht
L[1:] ['Spam', 'SPAM!'] Slicing fetches sections
Built-in List Functions & Methods:
Python includes the following list functions:
SN Func tion with Desc ription
1 cmp(list1, list2)
Compares elements of both lists.
2 len(list)
Gives the total leng th of the list.
3 max(list)
Returns item from the list with max value.
4 min(list)
Returns item from the list with min value.
5 list(seq)
Converts a tuple into list.
Python includes following list methods
SN Methods with Desc ription
1 [Link](obj)
Appends object obj to list
2 [Link](obj)
Returns count of how many times obj occurs in list
3 [Link](seq)
Appends the contents of seq to list
4 [Link](obj)
Returns the lowest index in list that obj appears
5 [Link](index, obj)
Inserts object obj into list at offset index
6 [Link](obj=list[-1])
Removes and returns last object or obj from list
7 [Link](obj)
Removes object obj from list
8 [Link]()
Reverses objects of list in place
9 [Link]([func])
Sorts objects of list, use compare func if g iven