Python Generate successive element difference list

In this as its elements article we will see how to find the difference between the two successive elements for each pair of elements in a given list. The list has only numbers as its elements.

With Index

Using the index of the elements along with the for loop, we can find the difference between the successive pair of elements.

Example

listA = [12,14,78,24,24]
# Given list
print("Given list : \n",listA)
# Using Index positions
res = [listA[i + 1] - listA[i] for i in range(len(listA) - 1)]
# printing result
print ("List with successive difference in elements : \n" ,res)

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

Given list :
[12, 14, 78, 24, 24]
List with successive difference in elements :
[2, 64, -54, 0]

With Slicing

Slicing is another technique where we slice the successive pairs from the list and then apply the zip function to get the result.

Example

listA = [12,14,78,24,24]
# Given list
print("Given list : \n",listA)
# Using list slicing
res = [x - y for y, x in zip(listA[: -1], listA[1 :])]
# printing result
print ("List with successive difference in elements : \n" ,res)

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

Given list :
[12, 14, 78, 24, 24]
List with successive difference in elements :
[2, 64, -54, 0]

With sub

The sub method from operators module can also be used through a map function. Again we apply the slicing technique two successive pairs of elements.

Example

import operator
listA = [12,14,78,24,24]
# Given list
print("Given list : \n",listA)
# Using operator.sub
res = list(map(operator.sub, listA[1:], listA[:-1]))
# printing result
print ("List with successive difference in elements : \n" ,res)

Output

Running the above code gives us the following result −

Given list :
[12, 14, 78, 24, 24]
List with successive difference in elements :
[2, 64, -54, 0]