Remove All Instances of Element from List in Python

In this article, we will see different ways to remove all occurrences or instances of a given element from the list in Python.

Let’s see the example:
Example:

Input  : ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]
element: "java"
Output : ["Python", "R", "Scala"]

Input  : ["java", "c", "ruby", "java", "java","java script"]
element: "java"
Output : ["c", "ruby", "java script"]

Now, let’s see different methods:
[toc]

Using remove() method of list with for loop

remove() method is used to remove the 1st occurrence of given element from the list. So here we are looping through the list, and whenever we find the given element, then we will remove that element from the list using remove() method.
Here is Python code:

# input list
items = ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]

# input element
element = "java"

# loop through all element
for item in items :

    # if element is found 
    # then remove
    if item == element:
        items.remove(item)

# print result  
print(items)

Output:

['Python', 'R', 'Scala']

Using pop() method of list

pop() method is used to remove the 1st occurrence of given index element from the list. So here we are looping through the list, and whenever we find the given element, then we will remove that element from the list using pop() method by passing its corresponding index.

Here is Python code:

# input list
items = ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]

# input element
element = "java"

# loop through all element
for i in range(len(items)) :

    # if element is found 
    # then pop out
    if items[i] == element:
        items.pop(i)

# print result
print(items)

Output:

['Python', 'R', 'Scala']

Using list-comprehension

Here, we are creating a new list by adding elements that are not matching with the given element using list-comprehension.
This is recommended solution to use, and here we are creating a sublist that satisfies certain conditions. In this scenario, if item is not matching with the given element

Here is Python code:

# input list
items = ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]

# input element
element = "java"

# list comprehension
items = [item for item in items if item != element]

# print result
print(items)

Output:

['Python', 'R', 'Scala']

Using filter()

We can also use inbuilt filter(function,iterable) method which can return an itertor from elements of the list for which function returns true.
Here is Python code:

# input list
items = ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]

# input element
element = "java"

# list comprehension
items = list(filter(lambda item: item != element, items))

# print result
print(items)

Using remove() method of list with while loop

We can also use remove() method with while loop rather than for loop as seen in first approach.

We will iterate the elements using while loop and when we find the element in the list, we will remove it.
Here is Python code:

# input list
items = ["java", "Python", "R", "Scala", "java"]

# input element
element = "java"

# while loop through all element
while element in items: items.remove(element)

# print result  
print(items)

Output:

['Python', 'R', 'Scala']

That’s all about how to remove all occurrences or instances of a given element from the list in Python.