In Python, a list is a built-in dynamic sized array (automatically grows and
shrinks). We can store all types of items (including another list) in a list. A
list may contain mixed type of items, this is possible because a list mainly
stores references at contiguous locations and actual items maybe stored at
different locations.
List can contain duplicate items.
List in Python are Mutable. Hence, we can modify, replace or delete the
items.
List are ordered. It maintain the order of elements based on how they are
added.
Accessing items in List can be done directly using their position (index),
starting from 0.
1.
a = [10, 20, 15]
print(a[0]) # access first itema.append(11) # add itema.remove(20) # remove item
print(a)
Creating a List
Here are some common methods to create a list:
2.Using Square Brackets
# List of integers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# List of strings = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']
# Mixed data types = [1, 'hello', 3.14, True]
3. Using list() Constructor
We can also create a list by passing an iterable (like a string, tuple, or
another list) to list() function.
# From a tuple = list((1, 2, 3, 'apple', 4.5))
4.Creating List with Repeated Elements
We can create a list with repeated elements using the multiplication
operator.
# Create a list [2, 2, 2, 2, 2]a = [2] * 5
# Create a list [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]b = [0] * 7
5 Accessing List Elements
Elements in a list can be accessed using indexing. Python indexes start
at 0, so a[0] will access the first element, while negative indexing allows
us to access elements from the end of the list. Like index -1 represents the
last elements of list.
= [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# Access first elementprint[0])
# Access last elementprint[-1])
6 Adding Elements into List
We can add elements to a list using the following methods:
append(): Adds an element at the end of the list.
extend(): Adds multiple elements to the end of the list.
insert(): Adds an element at a specific position.
# Initialize an empty lista = []
# Adding 10 to end of list a.append(10) print("After append(10):", a)
# Inserting 5 at index 0 a.insert(0, 5)print("After insert(0, 5):", a)
# Adding multiple elements [15, 20, 25] at the enda.extend([15, 20, 25])
print("After extend([15, 20, 25]):", a)
7 Updating Elements into List
We can change the value of an element by accessing it using its index.
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# Change the second element [1] = 25
8 Removing Elements from List
We can remove elements from a list using:
remove(): Removes the first occurrence of an element.
pop(): Removes the element at a specific index or the last element if no
index is specified.
del statement: Deletes an element at a specified index.
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# Removes the first occurrence of 30a.remove(30) print("After remove(30):", a)
# Removes the element at index 1 (20)popped_val = a.pop(1) print("Popped element:",
popped_val)print("After pop(1):", a)
# Deletes the first element (10)del a[0] print("After del a[0]:", a)
Iterating Over Lists
We can iterate the Lists easily by using a for loop or other iteration
methods. Iterating over lists is useful when we want to do some operation on
each item or access specific items based on certain conditions. Let’s take an
example to iterate over the list using for loop.
9 Using for Loop
['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']
# Iterating over the listfor item in a:
(item)
To learn various other methods, please refer to iterating over lists.
10 Nested Lists in Python
A nested list is a list within another list, which is useful for representing
matrices or tables. We can access nested elements by chaining indexes.
matrix = [
[1, 2, 3],
[4, 5, 6],
[7, 8, 9]]
# Access element at row 2, column 3print(matrix[1][2])
