Depending on the needs of our data analysis we may need to check for presence of sequential numbers in a python data container. In the below programs we find out if among the elements of Alist, there are any consecutive numbers.
With range and sorted
The sorted function will rearrange the elements of the list in a sorted order. We then apply the range function taking the lowest and highest numbers form the list using min and max functions. We store the results of above operations in two lists and compare them for equality.
Example
listA = [23,20,22,21,24]
sorted_list = sorted(listA)
#sorted(l) ==
range_list=list(range(min(listA), max(listA)+1))
if sorted_list == range_list:
print("listA has consecutive numbers")
else:
print("listA has no consecutive numbers")
# Checking again
listB = [23,20,13,21,24]
sorted_list = sorted(listB)
#sorted(l) ==
range_list=list(range(min(listB), max(listB)+1))
if sorted_list == range_list:
print("ListB has consecutive numbers")
else:
print("ListB has no consecutive numbers")Output
Running the above code gives us the following result −
listA has consecutive numbers ListB has no consecutive numbers
With numpy diff and sorted
The diff function in numpy can find the difference between each of the numbers after they are sorted. We take a sum of this differences. That will match the length of the list if all numbers are consecutive.
Example
import numpy as np
listA = [23,20,22,21,24]
sorted_list_diffs = sum(np.diff(sorted(listA)))
if sorted_list_diffs == (len(listA) - 1):
print("listA has consecutive numbers")
else:
print("listA has no consecutive numbers")
# Checking again
listB = [23,20,13,21,24]
sorted_list_diffs = sum(np.diff(sorted(listB)))
if sorted_list_diffs == (len(listB) - 1):
print("ListB has consecutive numbers")
else:
print("ListB has no consecutive numbers")Output
Running the above code gives us the following result −
listA has consecutive numbers ListB has no consecutive numbers