Python List tutorial

In this tutorial, we are going to see about Python List.

Python List is one of the most used data structure in Python. Python List is a collection of items in ordered sequence.There are 6 sequences in python and List is one of them.

Python list begins with an opening square bracket and ends with a closing square bracket, [] and you can put multiple data types into a list.

Let’s learn list with a lot of examples.

Create a list

You can create a list simply using square brackets.

Output:

List 1: [1, 2, 3, 4] List 2: [1, 2, 3, 4]

Access list elements

You can access list elements with square brackets.Let’s see with the help of example.

Output:

First fruit: Apple
Second fruit: Orange
Third fruit: Banana
Fourth fruit: Pineapple

Slicing list

You can use slicing as similar to String in the list.
Use following syntax for slicing.
list1[start:end:step] All the variables start, end and step are optional.
Start: It denotes starting of the list
Start: It denotes ending of the list
step: It denotes steps for accessing element.
Let’s understand with the help of example.

Output:

First two elements: [‘Apple’, ‘Orange’] Last two elements: [‘Banana’, ‘Pineapple’] Middle two elements: [‘Orange’, ‘Banana’] Elements in step 2 [‘Apple’, ‘Banana’]

Please go through above examples and you will be able understand how slicing works.Let’s
You can provide negative indexes also to traverse list in reverse order. -1 is the last index in the list.
Let’s understand with the help of example.

Output:

last three elements: [‘Orange’, ‘Banana’, ‘Pineapple’] Print list in reverse order: [‘Pineapple’, ‘Banana’, ‘Orange’, ‘Apple’]

Python list methods

Please find list of methods which you can use with Python Lists.

MethodDescription
appendThis method is used to add single item to the end of the list.
extendThis method is used to add list of items to the end of the list
removeThis method is used to remove element from the list.If element is not present then it will raise error
indexThis method is used to find index of given element
popThis method will remove and return passed index.If index is not passed then it will remove and return last element from the list.
countThis method will count occurences of passed element in the list
clearThis method is used to remove all elements of the list.
copyThis method is used to shallow copy the list.
sortThis method is used to sort the list in ascending or desending order
reverseThis method is used to reverse the list.
insertThis method is used to add element to the list at specified index.

Get List’s length

You can use Python’s len function to get length of the list.

Output:

Length of listOfFruits is: 4

Changing Values in a List with Indexes

You can change value at any index using = operator.
Let’s understand with the help of simple example.

Output:

listOfFruits before: [‘Apple’, ‘Orange’, ‘Banana’, ‘Pineapple’] listOfFruits after: [‘Apple’, ‘Mango’, ‘Banana’, ‘Pineapple’]

As you can see, value at index 1 of the list changed from ‘Orange’ to ‘Mango’.

List Concatenation and List Replication

You can use + operator to concatenate lists.Please note that it won’t impact original list.If you want to make changes to first list, you need to explicitly assign it.

Let’s understand with the help of simple example.

Output:

ListOfFruits: [‘Apple’, ‘Orange’, ‘Banana’, ‘Pineapple’]

You can replicate list with the help of * operator

Output:

List 1: [‘Apple’, ‘Orange’, ‘Apple’, ‘Orange’]

That’s all about Python List.

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