Chapter 6: Python Lists

Prepared by: Hanan Hardan

3/14/2022 1
 Python Lists

• Lists are used to store multiple items in a single

variable.
• Lists are created using square brackets:

Example: Create a List

thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
print(thislist)
 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: 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.
• Changeable: meaning that we can change, add, and remove
items in a list after it has been created.
 List Items

• Allow Duplicates: Since lists are indexed, lists can have

items with the same value:

Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "apple", "cherry"]
print(thislist)
 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))
 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]
• A list can contain different data types:
Example
list4 = ["abc", 34, True, 40, "male"]
List5= [("abc", 34),["abc", 34], "abc", 34]
 The list() Constructor

• It is also possible to use the list() constructor when creating a new list.

Example:

thislist = list(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) # note the double round-brackets

print(thislist)
 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])
• Negative indexing means start from the end
-1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item etc.
Example: Print the last item of the list:
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
print(thislist[-1])
 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", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:5])

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

• Remember that the first item has index 0.

• By leaving out the start value, the range will start at the first
item:
This example returns the items from the beginning to, but NOT
including, "kiwi":
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[:4])
• By leaving out the end value, the range will go on to the end of
the list:
This example returns the items from "cherry" to the end:
thislist =["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:])
 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]) 

Names = ("Ali", "Sami", "Omar", "Hani", "Reem")

print(Names[-1:-4:-1]) 
print(Names[-1:-4]) 
 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")
 Change List Items

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

Example: Change the second item:
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist[1] = "blackcurrant"
print(thislist)
 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)

3/14/2022 14
 Change a Range of Item Values
• 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)

Note: The length of the list will change when the number of items inserted
does not match the number of items replaced.

3/14/2022 15
 Change a Range of Item Values
• If you insert less items than you replace, the new items will be inserted
where you specified, and the remaining items will move accordingly:

Example
Change the second and third value by replacing it with one value:

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

thislist[1:3] = ["watermelon"]
print(thislist)
 Add List 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)
 Add List Items

Insert Items
• To insert a list item at a specified index, use the insert() method.
Example

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

thislist.insert(1, "orange")
thislist.insert(2, "watermelon")
print(thislist)

Note: As a result of the example above, the list will now contain 5 items.
 Add List Items

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 = ["mango", "pineapple", "papaya"]
thislist.extend(tropical)
print(thislist)

Note:The elements will be added to the end of the list.

 Add List Items

Add Any Iterable

• The extend() method does not have to append lists, you can add any
iterable object (tuples, sets, dictionaries etc.).

Example
Add elements of a tuple to a list:

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

thistuple = ("kiwi", "orange")
thislist.extend(thistuple)
print(thislist)
 Remove List Items

Remove Specified Item

• The remove() method removes the specified item.

Example: Remove "banana":

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

thislist.remove("banana")
print(thislist)
 Remove List Items

Remove Specified Index

• The pop() method removes the specified index.

Example: Remove the second item:

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

thislist.pop(1)
print(thislist)
 Remove List Items

• 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)
 Remove List Items

• The del keyword also removes the specified index:Example

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

• The del keyword can also delete the list completely.

Example: Delete the entire list:
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
del thislist
 Remove List Items

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)
 Loop Lists

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)
 Loop Lists

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"]

for i in range(len(thislist)):
print(thislist[i])
 List Comprehension

• List comprehension offers a shorter syntax when you want to create a new
list based on the values of an existing list.
• Comprehension syntax:
newlist = [expression for item in list if condition == True]

• The expression is some calculation or operation acting upon the variable

item
• The condition is like a filter that only accepts the items that valuate to
True.
• The return value is a new list, leaving the old list unchanged.
 List Comprehension

Example: 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"]

Without list comprehension With list comprehension

newlist = [] newlist = [x for x in fruits if "a" in x]
for x in fruits: print(newlist)
if "a" in x:
newlist.append(x)
Note: With list comprehension you can do all that with only one line of code
print(newlist)
 List Comprehension

Example: Only accept items that are not "apple":

newlist = [x for x in fruits if x != "apple"]

• The condition if x != "apple" will return True for all elements other than
"apple", making the new list contain all fruits except "apple".

Example:
li = [3, 6, 2, 7]
l1=[elem*2 for elem in li]
print(l1)
 List Comprehension

• The condition is optional and can be omitted:

Example: With no if statement:
newlist = [x for x in fruits]

• The iterable can be any iterable object, like a list, tuple, set etc.
Example: You can use the range() function to create an iterable:
newlist = [x for x in range(10)]

Example: Accept only numbers lower than 5:

newlist = [x for x in range(10) if x < 5]
 List Comprehension

Expression
• The expression is the current item in the iteration, but it is also the
outcome, which you can manipulate before it ends up like a list item in the
new list:
Example: Set the values in the new list to upper case:
newlist = [x.upper() for x in fruits]

• You can set the outcome to whatever you like:

Example: Set all values in the new list to 'hello':
newlist = ['hello' for x in fruits]
 List Comprehension

• The expression can also contain conditions, not like a filter, but as a way
to manipulate the outcome:

Example: Return "orange" instead of "banana":

newlist = [x if x != "banana" else "orange" for x in fruits]

• The expression in the example above says:

"Return the item if it is not banana, if it is banana return orange".
 Sort Lists

• List objects have a sort() method that will sort the list alphanumerically
and numerically, ascending, by default:
• Sort List Alphanumerically
Example:
thislist = ["orange", "mango", "kiwi", "pineapple", "banana"]
thislist.sort()
print(thislist)
• Sort the list numerically:
Example:
thislist = [100, 50, 65, 82, 23]
thislist.sort()
print(thislist)
 Sort Lists

• Sort Descending :To sort descending, use the keyword argument reverse =
True
Example 1:
thislist = ["orange", "mango", "kiwi", "pineapple", "banana"]
thislist.sort(reverse = True)
print(thislist)

Example 2:
thislist = [100, 50, 65, 82, 23]
thislist.sort(reverse = True)
print(thislist)
 Sort Lists

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)
 Join Lists

• There are several ways to join, or concatenate, two or more lists in

Python.
One of the easiest ways are by using the + operator.

Example: Join two list:

list1 = ["a", "b", "c"]

list2 = [1, 2, 3]
list3 = list1 + list2
print(list3)
 Join Lists

Another way to join two lists is by appending all the items from list2 into list1,
one by one:

Example: Append list2 into list1:

list1 = ["a", "b" , "c"]

list2 = [1, 2, 3]
for x in list2:
list1.append(x)
print(list1)
 Join Lists

Or you can use the extend() method, which purpose is to add elements from one
list to another list:

Example: Use the extend() method to add list2 at the end of list1:

list1 = ["a", "b" , "c"]

list2 = [1, 2, 3]
list1.extend(list2)
print(list1)
 Collection data types

• 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.
• *As of Python version 3.7, dictionaries are ordered. In Python 3.6 and
earlier, dictionaries are unordered.
• 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.