Python Lists

Python Collections (Arrays)

There are four collection data types in the Python programming language:

List is a collection which is ordered and changeable. Allows duplicate

members.
Tuple is a collection which is ordered and unchangeable. Allows duplicate
members.
Set is a collection which is unordered and unindexed. No duplicate
members.
Dictionary is a collection which is ordered* and changeable. No duplicate
members.

When choosing a collection type, it is useful to understand the

properties of that type. Choosing the right type for a particular data set
could mean retention of meaning, and, it could mean an increase in
efficiency or security.
 Outline
• Lists
• Indexing and lookup
• Lists and loops
• Slicing lists
• List mutability
• List methods: append, remove, sort..
• Functions: len, min, max, sum
A List is kind of Collection
A collection allows us to put many values in a single “variable”

A collection is nice because we can carry all many values around in

one convenient package.

friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally' ]

cars= [ 'Toyota', 'BMW', 'Volvo' ]
list1 = [1, 5, 7, 9, 3]
list2 = [True, False, False]
Creating a List
 List Constants
• List constants are surrounded
by square brakets and the >>> print [1, 24, 76]
elements in the list are [1, 24, 76]
separated by commas. >>> print ['red', 'yellow', 'blue']
['red', 'yellow', 'blue']
• A list element can be any >>> print ['red', 24, 98.6]
Python object - even another ['red', 24, 98.599999999999994]
list >>> print [ 1, [5, 6], 7]
[1, [5, 6], 7]
>>> print []
• A list can be empty []
 Looking Inside Lists

• Just like strings, we can get at any single element in a list using an
index specified in square brackets

>>> friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally' ]

>>> print friends[1]
Glenn
>>>
 Looking Inside Lists

• We can get at any single element even in case of nested lists

>>> t= [ 1, [5, 6], 7]

>>> print (t[ 1 ])
[5, 6]

>>> print (t[ 1 ][ 0 ])

5
 Lists and WhileLoops

friends = ['Ali', 'Ahmad', 'Sally']

i=0
while i< 3 : Happy New Year: Ali
print('Happy New Year:', friends[i])
i=i+1 Happy New Year: Ahmad
print('Done!') Happy New Year: Sally
Done!
 Lists and for Loops

friends = ['Ali', 'Ahmad', 'Sally']

for f in friends : Happy New Year: Ali
print('Happy New Year:', friend)
print('Done!') Happy New Year: Ahmad
Happy New Year: Sally
Done!
Lists are Mutable >>> fruit = 'Banana’
>>> fruit[0] = 'b’
Traceback
• Strings are "immutable" - TypeError: 'str' object does not
we cannot change the support item assignment
contents of a string - we >>> x = fruit.lower()
must make a new string to >>> print x
make any change banana
>>> lotto = [2, 14, 26, 41, 63]
• Lists are "mutable" - we >>> print lotto
can change an element of a [2, 14, 26, 41, 63]
list using the index >>> lotto[2] = 28
operator >>> print lotto
[2, 14, 28, 41, 63]
 How Long is a List?

• The len() function takes a list

>>> greet = 'Hello Bob’
as a parameter and returns the
>>> print len(greet)
number of elements in the list
9
>>> x = [ 1, 2, 'joe', 99]
• Actually len() tells us the >>> print len(x)
number of elements of any set 4
or sequence (i.e. such as a >>>
string...)
 Using the range function
>>> print(list(range(4)))
• The range function returns a [0, 1, 2, 3]
list of numbers that range >>> friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally']
from zero to one less than >>> print len(friends)
the parameter 3
>>> print(list(range(len(friends)))
[0, 1, 2]
>>>
 Lists can be sliced using :

>>> t = [9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15]

>>> t[1:3]
[41,12] Remember: Just like in
>>> t[:4] strings, the second number
[9, 41, 12, 3] is "up to but not including"
>>> t[3:]
[3, 74, 15]
>>> t[:]
[9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15]
 List Methods

>>> x = list()
>>> type(x)
<type 'list'>
>>> dir(x)
['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert',
'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']
>>>

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/datastructures.html
 Building a list from scratch

• We can create an
empty list and then add >>> stuff = list()
elements using the >>> stuff.append('book')
append method >>> stuff.append(99)
>>> print (stuff)
• The list stays in order
['book', 99]
>>> stuff.append('cookie')
and new elements are
>>> print (stuff)
added at the end of the
['book', 99, 'cookie']
list
 A List is an Ordered Sequence

• A list can hold many

items and keeps those
items in the order until >>> friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally' ]
we do something to >>> friends.sort()
change the order >>> print friends
['Glenn', 'Joseph', 'Sally']
• A list can be sorted (i.e. >>> print friends[1]
Joseph
change its order)
List Methods

list=["a","b","c","d","c"]
list.index("c",3)
 Lists Operators

+ : Concatenation
* : Repetition
in : Membership
Note: - and / are not supported for lists
 Concatenating lists using +

>>> a = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b = [4, 5, 6]
• We can create a new list by >>> c = a + b
adding two exsiting lists >>> print c
together [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>> print a
[1, 2, 3]
 Repetition using *
>>> a = [1, 2, 3]
>>> n = 2
• We can repeate a list n times by >>> c = a * n
multiplying the list by n >>> print (c)
[1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]
• Allow Duplicates: Since lists are >>> print (a)
indexed, lists can have items with the [1, 2, 3]
same value

>>> a = [0]
>>> print (a*5)
[0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
 Is Something in a List?
• Python provides two
operators that let you
check if an item is in a >>> some = [1, 9, 21, 10, 16]
list >>> 9 in some
True
• These are logical >>> 15 in some
operators that return False
True or False >>> 20 not in some
True
>>>
• They do not modify the
list
 Built-in Functions and Lists

• There are a number of >>> nums = [3, 41, 12, 9, 74, 15]
functions built into >>> print(len(nums))
Python that take lists as 6
>>> print(max(nums))
parameters
74
>>> print(min(nums))
3
• Remember the loops we >>> print(sum(nums))
built? These are much 154
simpler. >>> print(sum(nums)/len(nums))
25.6
The list() Constructor
It is also possible to use the list() constructor when creating a new list.
list constructer takes only one argument thus the brackets
thislist = list(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) # note the double round-brackets
print(thislist)
>>> ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

Negative Indexing
Negative indexing means start from the end
-1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item etc.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

print(thislist[-1])
>>> cherry

Range of Negative Indexes

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]

print(thislist[-4:-1])
>>>['orange', 'kiwi', 'melon']
Change a Range of Item Values
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "mango"]
thislist[1:3] = ["lemon", "watermelon"]
print(thislist)
>>> ['apple', 'lemon', 'watermelon', 'orange', 'kiwi', 'mango']

• If you insert more items than you replace, the new items will be inserted where
you specified, and the remaining items will move accordingly:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist[1:2] = ["lemont", "watermelon"]
print(thislist)
>>> ['apple', 'lemon', 'watermelon', 'cherry']

• If you insert less items than you replace, the new items will be inserted where
you specified, and the remaining items will move accordingly:
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist[1:3] = ["watermelon"]
print(thislist)
>>>['apple', 'watermelon']
Append Items
To add an item to the end of the list, use the append() method:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.append("orange")
print(thislist)
>>>['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'orange']

Insert Items
To insert a list item at a specified index, use the insert() method.
The insert() method inserts an item at the specified index:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.insert(1, "orange")
print(thislist)
>>>['apple', 'orange', 'banana', 'cherry']

Extend List
To append elements from another list to the current list, use the extend() method.
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
tropical = ["mango", "pineapple", "papaya"]
thislist.extend(tropical)
print(thislist)
>>>['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'mango', 'pineapple', 'papaya']
Remove Specified Item
The remove() method removes the specified item.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.remove("banana")
print(thislist)
>>> ['apple', 'cherry']

Remove Specified Index

The pop() method removes the specified index.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.pop(1)
print(thislist)
>>> ['apple', 'cherry']

If you do not specify the index, the pop() method removes the last item.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.pop()
print(thislist)
>>>['apple', 'banana']
Clear the List

The clear() method empties the list.

The list still remains, but it has no content.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

thislist.clear()
print(thislist)
>>>[]
Looping Using List Comprehension

List Comprehension offers the shortest syntax for looping through lists:

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

[print(x) for x in thislist]
>>> apple
banana
Cherry

newlist = [expression for item in iterable if condition == True]

Examples:
• Based on a list of fruits, you want a new list, containing only the fruits with the
letter "a" in the name.
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "kiwi", "mango"]
newlist = [x for x in fruits if "a" in x]
print(newlist)
>>>['apple', 'banana', 'mango']

• Set the values in the new list to upper case:

newlist = [x.upper() for x in fruits]
>>>['APPLE', 'BANANA', 'CHERRY', 'KIWI', 'MANGO']
Sort Descending
To sort descending, use the keyword argument reverse = True:

thislist = ["orange", "mango", "kiwi", "pineapple", "banana"]

thislist.sort(reverse = True)
print(thislist)
>>>['pineapple', 'orange', 'mango', 'kiwi', 'banana']

Customize Sort Function

You can also customize your own function by using the keyword argument key
= function. The function will return a number that will be used to sort the list (the lowest
number first):

def myfunc(n):
return abs(n - 50)

thislist = [100, 50, 65, 82, 23]

thislist.sort(key = myfunc)
print(thislist)

>>>[50, 65, 23, 82, 100]

Case Insensitive Sort
By default the sort() method is case sensitive, if you want a case-insensitive sort function,
use str.lower as a key function:

thislist = ["banana", "Orange", "Kiwi", "cherry"]

thislist.sort(key = str.lower)
print(thislist)
>>>['banana', 'cherry', 'Kiwi', 'Orange']

Reverse Order
What if you want to reverse the order of a list, regardless of the alphabet?

thislist = ["banana", "Orange", "Kiwi", "cherry"]

thislist.reverse()
print(thislist)
>>>['cherry', 'Kiwi', 'Orange', 'banana']
Copy a List
You cannot copy a list simply by typing list2 = list1, because: list2 will only be
a reference to list1, and changes made in list1 will automatically also be made in list2.

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

mylist = thislist.copy()
print(mylist)
>>> ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

Another way to make a copy is to use the built-in method list().

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
mylist = list(thislist)
print(mylist)
>>> ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

List index()
The index() method returns the position at the first occurrence of the specified value.

fruits = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

x = fruits.index("cherry")
>>>2
List count()
The count() method returns the number of elements with the specified value.

points = [1, 4, 2, 9, 7, 8, 9, 3, 1]
x = points.count(9)
>>>2
 List Summary
• Concept of a collection
• Lists and definite loops
• Indexing and lookup
• Slicing lists
• List mutability
• List methods: append, remove, sort..
• Functions: len, min, max, sum