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Lists

The document discusses lists in Python. It explains what lists are, how to access values within lists using indexes, and various operations like appending, updating, and deleting values in lists using methods like append(), assignment, and remove()/del.

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12 views3 pages

Lists

The document discusses lists in Python. It explains what lists are, how to access values within lists using indexes, and various operations like appending, updating, and deleting values in lists using methods like append(), assignment, and remove()/del.

Uploaded by

ravindu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lists

1. Introduction to Collections
The previous lessons have covered how to store and manage a single value in a
variable. The following example illustrates how it is achieved.
>>> name = ‘Rohan’
>>> age = 20
Often solving problems demand multiple values to be stored in a single variable.
Suppose you want to roll a dice n times and store its values. A straightforward approach
is to use one variable per value of a roll as illustrated below.
>>> roll_1 = value_1
>>> roll_2 = value_2
>>> roll_3 = value_3
…………………
>>> roll_n = value_n
However, this approach has several problems. First, what if you do not know the value
of n beforehand. Assume you want to develop a program where users can store the
goods they buy in a supermarket. One day they might buy 10 goods, and another day,
they might buy 100 goods. Hence, one cannot decide in advance how many variables
are needed. Second, what if the value of n is very large (e.g., n = 10,000). Creating and
managing 10,000 variables is a difficult task.
Using container data types will solve these problems. Container data types allow storing
more than one value in a variable. In the rolling dice example, using container data
types, all the n values can be stored in a single variable. How to do that will be covered
in Section 2. Python supports many container data types. Some of them are List, Tuple,
Range, and Set. Note that there are many more. This lesson discusses the List in detail.

2. Introduction to Lists
List is one of the popular data structures. A list holds comma-separated values between
square brackets. Following is a sample list in Python.
>>> numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4]
The above example clearly illustrates the structure of a list where the values are
comma-separated and are surrounded by square brackets. More examples of lists in
Python are as follows.
>>> list_1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>> list_2 = [‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’]
>>> list_3 = [‘apple’, ‘orange’, 2000, 69.6]
These examples illustrate an important property of lists in Python which is that the
values within a list need not be of the same data type. For example, in list_3, ‘apple’ and
‘orange’ are strings, 2000 is an integer, and 69.6 is a floating-point number.

3. Accessing Values in a List


A typical list will contain multiple values. To access the values in a list, the first step is to
locate the values. Suppose you go to a library and you need to tell the librarian which
book you need. Assume that the books are organized on shelves. First, you should
specify the shelf where the book is located. Second, you should specify the location of
the book on the shelf (e.g., the second book from the left). Accessing the values in a list
is similar to that.
To locate the values in a list, the lists in Python are indexed. Consider the following
Python list.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
Figure 1 illustrates how the above list is indexed.

Two important properties of indexing are,

 The index of the first value is 0 (not 1).


o In Figure 1, the first value 15 is indexed 0.
 The values are indexed from left to right
o In Figure 1, the first value 15 is indexed 0, the second value 20 is indexed
1, and the third value 96 is indexed 2.

The following Python code illustrates how to access the values in a list.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> print(values[0])
15
>>> print(values[4])
17
In addition to accessing a single value at a time, Python also allows extracting a section
of values from a list. The following code illustrates how it is achieved.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> print(values[0:3])
[15, 20, 96]
>>> print(values[2:5])
[96, 32, 17]
It is evident from the above examples that if the specified index range is [m:n], the
values considered are from index m to index (n-1). For example, values[0:3] considers
the values from 15 to 96 where 15 is at index 0 and 96 is at index 2 (not 3).

4. Appending Values to a List


Consider the values list which was used in the previous sections.
values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
To append 60 to this list, which means adding 60 to the end of this list, the append()
method can be used. The following code demonstrates how the append() method is
used.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> values.append(60)
>>> print(values)
[15, 20, 96, 32, 17, 60]
The output shows that 60 has been appended successfully.

5. Updating a Value in a List


Consider the values list which was used in the previous sections.
values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
Suppose we need to update the value at index 2, which is 96, to 60. It can be achieved
in the following manner.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> values[2] = 60
>>> print(values)
[15, 20, 60, 32, 17]
To update the value at a specific index, we write the name of the list followed by the
index in square brackets on the left-hand side of the equal notation and the new value
on the right-hand side of the equal notation (e.g., values[2] = 60).

6. Deleting a Value from a List


Consider the values list which was used in the previous sections.
values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
Suppose we need to delete the value at index 1. It can be achieved using the remove()
method as shown below.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> values.remove(20)
>>> print(values)
[15, 96, 32, 17]
The output does not contain 20 which was the value at index 1. One drawback in using
the remove() method is that the value at the specific index should be known. For
example, in the above example, the remove() method cannot be used if we do not know
that 20 is the value at index 1. In scenarios where the value at a specific index is not
known, an alternative approach is to use the del (delete) keyword. See the following
example.
>>> values = [15, 20, 96, 32, 17]
>>> del values[1]
>>> print(values)
[15, 96, 32, 17]
The del keyword does not need the value at an index to be known.

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