Python list common operations
Python3 Examples1. list definition
Example
>>> li = ["a", "b", "mpilgrim", "z", "example"]
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[1]
'b'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[1]
'b'
2. list negative indexing
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[-1]
'example'
>>> li[-3]
'mpilgrim'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[1:3]
['b', 'mpilgrim']
>>> li[1:-1]
['b', 'mpilgrim', 'z']
>>> li[0:3]
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim']
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[-1]
'example'
>>> li[-3]
'mpilgrim'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li[1:3]
['b', 'mpilgrim']
>>> li[1:-1]
['b', 'mpilgrim', 'z']
>>> li[0:3]
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim']
3. list adding elements
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li.append("new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.insert(2, "new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.extend(["two", "elements"])
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
4. list search
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.index("example")
5
>>> li.index("new")
2
>>> li.index("c")
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.index(x): x not in list
>>> "c" in li
False
5. list deleting elements
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("z")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("new") # Delete the first occurrence of a value
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements'] # The second 'new' is not deleted
>>> li.remove("c") # If the value is not found in the list, Python will raise an exception
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list
>>> li.pop() # pop does two things: deletes the last element of the list, then returns the value of the deleted element.
'elements'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
6. list operators
Example
>>> li = ['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim']
>>> li = li + ['example', 'new']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new']
>>> li += ['two']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
>>> li = [1, 2] * 3
>>> li
[1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2]
7. Using join to link a list into a string
Example
>>> params = {"server":"mpilgrim", "database":"master", "uid":"sa", "pwd":"secret"}
>>> ["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()]
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> ";".join(["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()])
'server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret'
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li.append("new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.insert(2, "new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.extend(["two", "elements"])
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example']
>>> li.append("new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.insert(2, "new")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new']
>>> li.extend(["two", "elements"])
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.index("example")
5
>>> li.index("new")
2
>>> li.index("c")
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.index(x): x not in list
>>> "c" in li
False
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.index("example")
5
>>> li.index("new")
2
>>> li.index("c")
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.index(x): x not in list
>>> "c" in li
False
Example
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("z")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("new") # Delete the first occurrence of a value
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements'] # The second 'new' is not deleted
>>> li.remove("c") # If the value is not found in the list, Python will raise an exception
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list
>>> li.pop() # pop does two things: deletes the last element of the list, then returns the value of the deleted element.
'elements'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("z")
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.remove("new") # Delete the first occurrence of a value
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements'] # The second 'new' is not deleted
>>> li.remove("c") # If the value is not found in the list, Python will raise an exception
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ?
ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list
>>> li.pop() # pop does two things: deletes the last element of the list, then returns the value of the deleted element.
'elements'
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
Example
>>> li = ['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim']
>>> li = li + ['example', 'new']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new']
>>> li += ['two']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
>>> li = [1, 2] * 3
>>> li
[1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2]
>>> li = li + ['example', 'new']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new']
>>> li += ['two']
>>> li
['a', 'b', 'mpilgrim', 'example', 'new', 'two']
>>> li = [1, 2] * 3
>>> li
[1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2]
Example
>>> params = {"server":"mpilgrim", "database":"master", "uid":"sa", "pwd":"secret"}
>>> ["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()]
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> ";".join(["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()])
'server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret'
>>> ["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()]
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> ";".join(["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()])
'server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret'
join can only be used for lists whose elements are strings; it does not perform any type coercion. Joining a list with one or more non-string elements will raise an exception.
8. list splitting strings
Example
>>> li = ['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> s = ";".join(li)
>>> s
'server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret'
>>> s.split(";")
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> s.split(";", 1)
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret']
>>> s = ";".join(li)
>>> s
'server=mpilgrim;uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret'
>>> s.split(";")
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa', 'database=master', 'pwd=secret']
>>> s.split(";", 1)
['server=mpilgrim', 'uid=sa;database=master;pwd=secret']
split is the opposite of join; it splits a string into a multi-element list.
Note that the delimiter (";") is completely removed; it does not appear in any element of the returned list.
split accepts an optional second parameter, which is the number of splits to perform.
9. list mapping comprehension
Example
>>> li = [1, 9, 8, 4]
>>> [elem*2 for elem in li]
[2, 18, 16, 8]
>>> li
[1, 9, 8, 4]
>>> li = [elem*2 for elem in li]
>>> li
[2, 18, 16, 8]
>>> [elem*2 for elem in li]
[2, 18, 16, 8]
>>> li
[1, 9, 8, 4]
>>> li = [elem*2 for elem in li]
>>> li
[2, 18, 16, 8]
10. Comprehension in dictionary
Example
>>> params = {"server":"mpilgrim", "database":"master", "uid":"sa", "pwd":"secret"}
>>> params.keys()
dict_keys(['server', 'database', 'uid', 'pwd'])
>>> params.values()
dict_values(['mpilgrim', 'master', 'sa', 'secret'])
>>> params.items()
dict_items([('server', 'mpilgrim'), ('database', 'master'), ('uid', 'sa'), ('pwd', 'secret')])
>>> [k for k, v in params.items()]
['server', 'database', 'uid', 'pwd']
>>> [v for k, v in params.items()]
['mpilgrim', 'master', 'sa', 'secret']
>>> ["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()]
['server=mpilgrim', 'database=master', 'uid=sa', 'pwd=secret']
>>> params.keys()
dict_keys(['server', 'database', 'uid', 'pwd'])
>>> params.values()
dict_values(['mpilgrim', 'master', 'sa', 'secret'])
>>> params.items()
dict_items([('server', 'mpilgrim'), ('database', 'master'), ('uid', 'sa'), ('pwd', 'secret')])
>>> [k for k, v in params.items()]
['server', 'database', 'uid', 'pwd']
>>> [v for k, v in params.items()]
['mpilgrim', 'master', 'sa', 'secret']
>>> ["%s=%s" % (k, v) for k, v in params.items()]
['server=mpilgrim', 'database=master', 'uid=sa', 'pwd=secret']
11. list filtering
Example
>>> li = ["a", "mpilgrim", "foo", "b", "c", "b", "d", "d"]
>>> [elem for elem in li if len(elem) > 1]
['mpilgrim', 'foo']
>>> [elem for elem in li if elem != "b"]
['a', 'mpilgrim', 'foo', 'c', 'd', 'd']
>>> [elem for elem in li if li.count(elem) == 1]
['a', 'mpilgrim', 'foo', 'c']
>>> [elem for elem in li if len(elem) > 1]
['mpilgrim', 'foo']
>>> [elem for elem in li if elem != "b"]
['a', 'mpilgrim', 'foo', 'c', 'd', 'd']
>>> [elem for elem in li if li.count(elem) == 1]
['a', 'mpilgrim', 'foo', 'c']