List

Lists are used to store multiple items in a single variable.

Lists are one of 4 built-in data types in Python used to store collections of
data, the other 3 are Tuple, Set, and Dictionary, all with different qualities
and usage.

Lists are created using square brackets:

Example
Create a List:

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

print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

List Items
List items are ordered, changeable, and allow duplicate values.

List items are indexed, the first item has index [0], the second item has
index [1] etc.

Ordered
When we say that lists are ordered, it means that the items have a defined
order, and that order will not change.

If you add new items to a list, the new items will be placed at the end of the
list.

Note: There are some list methods that will change the order, but in
general: the order of the items will not change.

Changeable
The list is changeable, meaning that we can change, add, and remove items
in a list after it has been created.

Allow Duplicates
Since lists are indexed, lists can have items with the same value:

Example
Lists allow duplicate values:

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

print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "banana", "cherry", "apple", "cherry"]

List Length
To determine how many items a list has, use the len() function:

Example
Print the number of items in the list:

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

print(len(thislist))

output:

List Items - Data Types

List items can be of any data type:

Example
String, int and boolean data types:
list1 = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
list2 = [1, 5, 7, 9, 3]
list3 = [True, False, False]

output:

["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

[1, 5, 7, 9, 3]

[True, False, False]

A list can contain different data types:

Example
A list with strings, integers and boolean values:

list1 = ["abc", 34, True, 40, "male"]

type()
From Python's perspective, lists are defined as objects with the data type
'list':

<class 'list'>
Example
What is the data type of a list?

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

print(type(mylist))
output:

<class ‘list’>

Access list items

List items are indexed and you can access them by referring to the index
number:

Example
Print the second item of the list:

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

print(thislist[1])

output:

banana

Note: The first item has index 0.

Negative Indexing
Negative indexing means start from the end

-1 refers to the last item, -2refers to the second last item etc.

Example
Print the last item of the list:

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

print(thislist[-1])
output:

cherry

Range of Indexes
You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to
end the range.

When specifying a range, the return value will be a new list with the specified
items.

Example
Return the third, fourth, and fifth item:

thislist=["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mang

o"]
print(thislist[2:5])

Output:

[cherry, orange, kiwi]

Note: The search will start at index 2 (included) and end at index 5 (not
included).

Remember that the first item has index 0.

By leaving out the start value, the range will start at the first item:

Example
This example returns the items from the beginning to, but NOT including,
"kiwi":

thislist =
["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[:4])

output:

[apple, banana, cherry, orange]

By leaving out the end value, the range will go on to the end of the list:

Example
This example returns the items from "cherry" to the end:

thislist =
["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:])

output:

[cherry, orange, kiwi, melon, mango]

Range of Negative Indexes

Specify negative indexes if you want to start the search from the end of the
list:

This example returns the items from "orange" (-4) to, but NOT including
"mango" (-1):

thislist =
["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[-4:-1])
output:

[orange, kiwi, melon]

Check if Item Exists
To determine if a specified item is present in a list use the in keyword:

Example
Check if "apple" is present in the list:

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

if "apple" in thislist:
print("Yes, 'apple' is in the fruits list")

output:

Yes, 'apple' is in the fruits list

Change Item Value

To change the value of a specific item, refer to the index number:

ExampleGet your own Python Server

Change the second item:

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

thislist[1] = "blackcurrant"
print(thislist)
output:

["apple", " blackcurrant ", "cherry"]

Change a Range of Item Values

To change the value of items within a specific range, define a list with the
new values, and refer to the range of index numbers where you want to
insert the new values:

Example
Change the values "banana" and "cherry" with the values "blackcurrant" and
"watermelon":

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

thislist[1:3] = ["blackcurrant", "watermelon"]
print(thislist)
output:

["apple", "blackcurrant", "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:

Example
Change the second value by replacing it with two new values:

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

thislist[1:2] = ["blackcurrant", "watermelon"]
print(thislist)
output:

["apple", blackcurrant", "watermelon”, "cherry"]

Insert Items
To insert a new list item, without replacing any of the existing values, we can
use the insert() method.

The insert() method inserts an item at the specified index:

Example
Insert "watermelon" as the third item:

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

thislist.insert(2, "watermelon")
print(thislist)
output:

["apple", "banana", "watermelon", "cherry"]

Note: As a result of the example above, the list will now contain 4 items.

Append Items
To add an item to the end of the list, use the append() method:

Example
Using the append() method to append an item:

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

thislist.append("orange")
print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange"]

Extend List
To append elements from another list to the current list, use
the extend() method.

Example
Add the elements of tropical to thislist:

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

tropical =
thislist.extend(tropical)
print(thislist)

output:

["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)

output:

["apple", "cherry"]

If there are more than one item with the specified value, the remove() method
removes the first occurrence:

Example
Remove the first occurrence of "banana":
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "banana", "kiwi"]
thislist.remove("banana")
print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "cherry", "banana", "kiwi"]

Remove Specified Index

The pop() method removes the specified index.

Example
Remove the second item:

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

thislist.pop(1)
print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "cherry"]

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

Example
Remove the last item:

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

thislist.pop()
print(thislist)

output:

["apple", "banana"]

The del keyword also removes the specified index:

Example
Remove the first item:
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
del thislist[0]
print(thislist)

output:

["banana", "cherry"]

The del keyword can also delete the list completely.

Example
Delete the entire list:

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

del thislist

output:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "demo_list_del2.py", line 3, in <module>
print(thislist) #this will cause an error because you have
succsesfully deleted "thislist".
NameError: name 'thislist' is not defined

Clear the List

The clear() method empties the list.

The list still remains, but it has no content.

Example
Clear the list content:

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

thislist.clear()
print(thislist)

output:

[]
Loop Through a List
You can loop through the list items by using a for loop:

Example
Print all items in the list, one by one:

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

for x in thislist:
print(x)

output:

apple

banana

cherry

Loop Through the Index Numbers

You can also loop through the list items by referring to their index number.

Use the range() and len() functions to create a suitable iterable.

Example
Print all items by referring to their index number:

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

l= len(thislist)
for i in range(l):

print(thislist[i])

output:

apple

banana

cherry
Sort List Alphanumerically
List objects have a sort() method that will sort the list alphanumerically,
ascending, by default:

Example
Sort the list alphabetically:

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

thislist.sort()
print(thislist)

output:

[‚banana‛, ‛kiwi‛, ‛mango‛, ‛orange‛, ‛pineapple‛]

Example
Sort the list numerically:

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

thislist.sort()
print(thislist)
output:

[23, 50, 65, 82, 100]

Sort Descending
To sort descending, use the keyword argument reverse = True:

Example
Sort the list descending:

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

thislist.sort(reverse = True)
print(thislist)

output:
[‚pineapple‛, ‛orange‛, ‛mango‛ ,‛kiwi‛, ‛banana‛]

Example
Sort the list descending:
thislist = [100, 50, 65, 82, 23]
thislist.sort(reverse = True)
print(thislist)

output:

[100,82,65,50,23]

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

The reverse() method reverses the current sorting order of the elements.

Example
Reverse the order of the list items:

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

thislist.reverse()
print(thislist)

output:

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