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• Creating and accessing list

• List Operations
• Working with list
• List functions and Methods

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• Is a container that are used to store a list of values of any type

• List is mutable type i.e. we can change value in place without
creating a fresh list
• List is a type of sequence like tuples and string but in differs
them in the way that lists are mutable but string and tuples are
immutable

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• List are created using SQUARE BRACKETS ( [ ] )

• Some of the examples of lists are :
•[] # empty list
• [1,2,3] # list of integers
• [10,20,13.75,100.5,90[ # list of integers and float
• [“red”,”green”,”blue”] # list of string
• [“E001”,”Rakesh”,1,90000.5] # list of mixed value
• [„A‟, „B‟, „C‟] # list of characters

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• To create a list the following syntax we need to follow:

• ListName = [ ] Or
• ListName = [ value1, value2,…..]
• For example
• Family = [“father”,”mother”,”bro”,”sis”]
• Student = [1,”Aman”,”XI”,3150]
• The above construct is known as list display construct
• Consider more examples
• EMPTY LIST
• L = [ ] Or
• L = list()

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• LONG LIST
• L = [1,2,3,44,55,66,77,88,99,4,3,5,6,7,88,100,300
12,13,14,56,78]
• NESTED LIST
• L = [1,2,4,[100,200,300], 20]
• The above code will create List L with 5 elements because it will
count [100,200,300] as one element. Now L[3] is list of 3
elements
• To print if we write : L[1] it will display 2 and to print 200 we
have to write L[3][1] i.e. of 3rd index print 2nd value

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• We can use the following syntax:

• ListName = list(sequence)
• For example (with string)
• L1 = list(„welcome‟)
• >>>L1
• [„w‟,‟e‟,‟l‟,‟c‟,‟o‟,‟m‟,‟e‟]
• With tuple
• T = („A‟,‟B‟,‟C‟,‟D‟)
• L1 = list(T)
• >>>L2
• [„A‟,‟B‟,‟C‟,‟D‟]
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• We can also create list of single characters or single digits

through keyboard input:
For example:
>>> list1 = list(input(„Enter list elements‟))
>>> list1
From the above code whatever values we will enter will be of
STRING type. To store list of integers through input in python we
can use eval() to convert the list items to integers
>>> list1 = eval(input(“enter list to be entered”))
>>> print(“list is “, list1)

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• eval(„5+10‟) 15

• Y = eval(“2*5”)
• print(Y) 10

• Num = eval(input(“enter any value “))

• print(Num, type(Num))
• Output will be 20 (if input is 20) and <class „int‟>

• Eval wil not only convert the values to int type but also interpret the
value as intended type i.e. if you enter float value it will convert it to
float or if it is list or tuple it will convert it.

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>>> list1 = eval(input(“Enter values :”))

>>> enter values: [10,20,30]
>>> list1
[10,20,30]

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• Similarity with strings:

• Just like string, every individual elements of lists are accessed from their
index position which is from 0 to length-1 in forward indexing and from -1
to –length in backward indexing.
• For example
• Fruits = [“mango”,”apple”,”guaua”,”pomegranate”,”cherry”]

• In above list items from mango to cherry are 0 to 4 and from cherry to
mango will be -1 to -5

0 1 2 3 4
Mango Apple Guaua Pomegranate cherry
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1
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• If list element is large, it will store the reference in the list and
the values will be stored somewhere else.

• List elements are accessed just like string like str[2] means
character at 2nd index List1[2] means elements at 2nd index and
List1[1:3] means all items between index 1 to 2

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• Another similarities are :

Length : the same len() function we can use on list to find out number of
elements in the list
Indexing and Slicing
Membership operators (in and not in)
Concatenation and replication operators + and *

• Accessing individual elements:

• >>> a = [1,2,3,4,5]
• >>> a[1] #2
• >>> a[3] #4
• >>> a[-2] #4
• >>> a[5] # Error

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• Although there are many similarities in String and List but there
are many difference between them also and the main
difference is Strings are immutable whereas Lists are mutable

• >>> student = [1,‟Akash‟,‟XIA‟,3150]

• >>> student[3]=6300
• >>> student
• [1,‟Akash‟,‟XIA‟,6300]

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• Just like String , We can use “for” loop to traverse the list.

val = [10,20,30,50,100]
for i in val:
print(i)

Program to print list elements along with their index (both +ve,-ve)
val = [10,20,30,50,100]
length = len(val)
for i in range(length):
print ("At Index ", i," and index ",i-length, 'is :', val[i])

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• Python allows us to use all the relational operators on list like ==, >=,
<=,!=,>,<
• Python will compare individual elements of each list.
>>> L1=[1,3,5]
>>> L2=[1,3,5]
>>> L3=[1,5,3]
>>> L1==L2
True
>>> L1==L3
False
>>> L1<L2
False
>>> L1<L3
True
>>> L4=[1,3,6]
>>>L1<L4
True
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Comparison Result Reason

[1,2,8,9] <[9,1] True 1<9
[1,2,8,9]<[1,2,9,1] True 8<9
[1,2,8,9]<[1,2,9,10] True 8<9
[1,2,8,9]<[1,2,8,4] False 9<4 is false

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• Joining List
• Jointing the 2 list is very easy, we can use (+) to join 2 or
more list
• Fruits=[“apple”,”mango”,”grapes”]
• Veg=[“spinach”,”carrot”,”potato”]
• Fveg = Fruits + Veg
• Fveg # [“apple”,”mango”,”grapes”,
“spinach”,”carrot”,”potato”]

• Remember: you can only add list with another list not
with int, float, complex, or string type.
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• Repeating of Replicating List

• Repeating any list is very easy, we can use (*)
• Fruits=[“apple”,”mango”,”grapes”]
• Fruits*2 #[“apple”,”mango”,”grapes”,“apple”,”mango”,”grapes”]

• String slicing
• Listname[start:End] # from start index to end-1 index

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val = [10,20,30,40,1,2,3,100,200]
print(val[0:3])
print(val[3:8])
print(val[-4:-1])
val2 = val[2:-2]
print(val2)
print(val2[0:])
print(val[::-1])
val[5]=101
print(val[-8:-2])
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val = [10,20,30,40,1,2,3,100,200]
print(val[3:50])
print(val[-20:4])
print(val[10:20])

Step slicing in List

val = [10,20,30,40,1,2,3,100,200]
print(val[0:9:2]) # 10,30,1,3,200

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val = [10,20,30,40,1,2,3,100,200]
print(val[2:9:3])
print(val[::3])
print(val[::-2])

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val = [10,20,30,40,1,2,3,100,200,10,20,30,11,12,15,17,19,90,77,35]
slice1 = val[5:15:2]
slice2 = val[::4]
sum = 0
for x in slice1:
print(x,"==",end='')
sum+=x
print("Sum of slice1 elements are ",sum)

sum=0
for x in slice2:
print(x,"==",end='')
sum+=x
avg = sum / len(slice2)
print("Average of slice 2 =",avg)
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items=["One","Two","Three","Four"]
items[0:2]=[1,2]
for i in items:
print(i,end=' ')
items[0:3]="Fantastic"
print()
for i in items:
print(i,end=' ')

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>>> items=[1,2,3,4]
>>> items[3:]=“hello”
>>> items # [1,2,3,‟h‟,‟e‟,‟l‟,‟l‟,‟o‟], it will work because
string is also a sequence
But if you try to assign as:
items[3:] = 100 # Error

If we pass index which is more than highest range, then Python will
use next position after the highest index for e.g.
>>> items[100:200]=[111,222]
Python will append these values to the end of list
>>>items [1,2,3,‟h‟,‟e‟,‟l‟,‟l‟,‟o‟,111,222]

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• So far we have worked with How the Lists are declared, How to
access individual elements of List, How to perform Slicing and so
on, Now we are going to deal with basic operation on list like :
Appending, Updating, Deleting items from List

• Appending elements to a List : appending means adding new

items to the end of list. To perform this we use append() method
to add single item to the end of the list.
>>> Items = [10,20,30]
>>> Items.append(40)
>>> Items # [10,20,30,40]

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• Updating elements of a list

ListName[index] = new value

Items = [10,20,30,40]
Items[3] = 100
Items [10,20,30,100]

• Deleting items from a List: to delete items from list we will use
del statement. To delete single item give index, and to delete
multiple items use slicing

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• Deleting single elements of a list

Items = [10,20,30,40,50,60,70]
del items[2]
Items [10,20,40,50,60,70]

• Deleting multiple elements of a list

• Items = [10,20,30,40,50,60,70]
• del items[0:3]
• Items [40,50,60,70]
• If we use del items then it will delete all the elements and the list
too i.e. now no list with the name items will exist in python

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• We can also use pop() to remove single elements, not list slices.
It not only deletes elements but also returns it. Both del and
pop() are same except pop() deletes and return the deleted
value.
>>>Items = [10,20,30,40,50,60,70]
>>>Items.pop() # if no index is passed last item will be deleted
70
>>>Items.pop(2)
30
We can also store the deleted values by pop() as:
N1 = items.pop()
N2 = items.pop(3)

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• Sometimes we need to make a copy of a list and we

generally do this by assignment as :
a = [10,20,30]
b=a
But this will not make b as duplicate list of a ; rather just like
python does it will make b to point to where a is pointing i.e.
both will refer to same memory address means b is nothing
but „alias‟ of a
>>> a[2]=100
>>>a # 10,20,100
>>>b # 10,20,100

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• But if we don‟t want copy like this and we want to modify

each list separately, then we have to use list() to create a
copy of list and both can be modified without affecting
other.
>>>a = [10,20,30]
>>>b = list(a)
a[2]=100
>>>a
[10,20,100]
>>>b
[10,20,30]

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• Python provides many built-in functions and methods for list

manipulation.
• The syntax of using list functions is :
• ListObjectName.functionName()
• There are many list functions like:
• index()
• append()
• extend()
• insert()
• pop()
• remove()
• clear()
• count()
• reverse()
• sort()
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• This function is used to get the index of first matched item from
the list. It returns index value of item to search.
• For example
>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,50,20]
>>> L1.index(20)
1 # item first matched at index 1
Note: if we pass any element which is not in the list then index
function will return an error: ValueError: n is not in the list
>>> L1.index(100) #Error

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• This function is used to add items to the end of the list.

• For example
>>> family=[“father”,”mother”,”bro”,”sis”]
>>> family.append(“Tommy”)
>>> family
[“father”,”mother”,”bro”,”sis”,”Tommy”]
Note: append() funtion will add the new item but not return any value.
Let us understand this:
>>> L1=[10,20,30]
>>> L2=L1.append(40)
>>> L2 # Empty will not store any item of L1
>>> L1
[10, 20, 30, 40]

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• This function is also used for adding multiple items. With extend we
can add only “list” to any list. Single value cannot be added using
extend()
• For example
>>> subject1=["physics","chemistry","cs"]
>>> subject2=["english","maths"]
>>> subject1.extend(subject2)
>>> subject1
['physics', 'chemistry', 'cs', 'english', 'maths']
Note: here subject1 will add the contents of subject2 in it without
effecting subject2
Like append(), extend() also does not return any value.
>>> subject3 = subject1.extend(subject2)
>>>subject3 # Empty

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• append() allows to add only 1 items to a list, extend() can add multiple
items to a list.

>>> m1=[1,2,3,4]
>>> m2=[100,200]
>>> m1.append(5)
>>> m1
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
>>> m1.append(6,7)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#16>", line 1, in <module>
m1.append(6,7)
TypeError: append() takes exactly one argument (2 given)

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>>> m1.append([6,7])
>>> m1
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6, 7]]
>>> len(m1)
6
Now let us see extend() function
>>> m2
[100, 200]
>>> m2.extend(300)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#21>", line 1, in <module>
m2.extend(300)
TypeError: 'int' object is not iterable

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>>> m2.extend([300,400])
>>> m2
[100, 200, 300, 400]
>>> len(m2)
4

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• This function is used to add elements to list like append() and

extend(). However both append() and extend() insert the element at
the end of the list. But insert() allows us to add new elements
anywhere in the list i.e. at position of our choice.
ListObject.insert(Position,item)

>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,50]
>>> L1
[10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
>>> L1.insert(3,35)
>>> L1
[10, 20, 30, 35, 40, 50]
>>>

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>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,50]
>>> L1
[10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
>>> L1.insert(0,5) #beginning
>>> L1
[5,10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
>>> L1.insert(len(L1),100) #last
>>> L1
[5,10, 20, 30, 40, 50,100]
>>> L1.insert(-10,2)
>>> L1
[2,5,10, 20, 30, 40, 50,100]
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• We have read about this function earlier, it is used to remove item

from list.
ListObject.pop([index]) #if index is not passed last item will be deleted

>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,50]
>>> L1.pop()
50
>>> val = L1.pop(2)
>>> val
30
>>> L1
[10, 20, 40]
>>>

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• The pop() method raises an exception(run time error) if the

list is already empty.
>>> L1= [ ]
>>> L1.pop()

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#19>", line 1, in <module>
L1.pop()
IndexError: pop from empty list

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pop() function is used to remove element whose position is given, but

what if you know the value to be removed, but you dont know its index or
position in the list? Answer is: remove()
It remove the first occurance of given item from the list and return error if
there is no such item in the list. It will not return any value.
>>> L1.remove(5)
>>> L1
[1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 3, 7]
>>> L1.remove(3)
>>> L1
[1, 7, 9, 11, 3, 7]
>>> L1.remove(10)

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<pyshell#26>", line 1, in <module>
L1.remove(10)
ValueError: list.remove(x):
VINOD x notVERMA,
KUMAR in list
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This function removes all teh items from the list and the list
becomes empty list.
List.clear()
>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,50]
>>> L1.clear()
>>> L1
[]
Note: unlike ‘del listname’ statement, clear() will removes only the
elements and not the list. After clear() the list object still exists as an
empty list

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This function returns the count of the item that you pased as an
argument. If the given item is not in the list, it returns zero.
>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,20,30,100]
>>> L1.count(20)
2
>>> L1.count(40)
1
>>> L1.count(11)
0

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This function reverses the items in the list. This is done i place
i.e. It wil not create a new list . The syntax to use reverse() is:
>>> L1=[10,20,30,40,20,30,100]
>>> L1.reverse()
>>> L1
[100, 30, 20, 40, 30, 20, 10]
>>> L2=[11,22,33]
>>> L3=L2.reverse() #it will not return any value
>>> L3 # empty
[]
VINOD KUMAR VERMA, PGT(CS), KV OEF KANPUR &
SACHIN BHARDWAJ, PGT(CS), KV NO.1 TEZPUR
 for more updates visit: www.python4csip.com

This function sorts the items of the list, by default increasing

order. This is done «in place» i.e. It does not create new list.
>>> L1=[10,1,7,20,8,9,2]
>>> L1.sort()
>>> L1
[1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20]
>>> L2=['g','e','a','c','b','d']
>>> L2.sort()
>>> L2
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'g']
>>> L1.sort(reverse=True) # for descending order
>>>L1
[20, 10, 9, 8, 7, 2, 1] VINOD KUMAR VERMA, PGT(CS), KV OEF KANPUR &
SACHIN BHARDWAJ, PGT(CS), KV NO.1 TEZPUR