In Python, If we want to represent a group of values as a single entity, then we should go for Python List data structure.

Python List Data Structure :

Python’s List Data structure is having the below characteristics.

• Python List is a mutable sequence of characters, typically used to store collections of similar items.
• List preserves the Insertion order.
• Python List allows duplicate elements.
• Python List is mutable, i.e. once we create a list, it can be modified at any time.
• Python List is considered to be a dynamic because based on our requirement it will grow and shrink in size.
• We can traverse the list in both the directions that are left to right and right to left.
• Since the Python List is an index based data structure, we can traverse the list by using indexes.
• A positive index can be used to traverse from left to right, and a negative index used to traverse from right to left.

Creating a Python List Object:

We can create a list by using [] open and close brackets.

list=[10,20,30,40]
print(type(list))

The above list contains values from 10 to 40 since these values enclosed with [] brackets, python considers it as a list type.

Output:

<class 'list'>

Updating List Elements:

As Python List is an index based data structure, we can update the list elements using its index position.

list = [10,20,50,30,60,40]
print("Before Updation : ",list)
list[2] = "A"
print("After Updation : ",list)

The above program is to update the 2nd position of the list element.

Output:

Before Updation :  [10, 20, 50, 30, 60, 40]
After Updation :  [10, 20, 'A', 30, 60, 40]

Deleting Elements from a List :

You can remove the list elements in two different ways.

• remove() function is used to remove the list element by value.
• del keyword is used to delete the list element by index.

remove() :

It removes the first occurrence of the given value from the list.

list = [10,20,50,30,60,40,10]
print("Before : ",list)
list.remove(10)
print("After Deletion : ",list)

Output:

Before :  [10, 20, 50, 30, 60, 40, 10]
After Deletion :  [20, 50, 30, 60, 40, 10]

del keyword:

It deletes the element in a list by index position.

list = [10,20,50,30,60,40,10]
print("Before : ",list)
del list[3]
print("After Deletion : ",list)

Output:

Before Updation :  [10, 20, 50, 30, 60, 40, 10]
After Updation :  [10, 20, 50, 60, 40, 10]

How to Access List Elements:

You can access elements of the list either by using an index or by using slice operator (:)

Obtaining List using the index :

• As Python list is an index based data structure, we can get the list items using index itself.
• A list follows the zero-based index, i.e. the index of the first element is zero.
• List supports both +ve and -ve indexes.
• +ve index meant for left right and -ve index indicated for the right to left traversing.

Python Index Representation :

Example:

list = [10,20,50,30,40]
print(list[0])
print(list[-1])
print(list[4])

Output:

10
40
40

Accessing List using slice (:):

We can access the list elements like between the indexes. The slice operator helps us to read values from the list for a given index range.

Syntax : 

list[start:end:step]

• Start – indicates that the index position, where the real slice has to start, the default value is 0.
• End – indicates that the index position, where the slicing has to end, the default value is the length of the list.
• Step – is an increment value; the default increment value is 1.

Example:

list1 = (10,20,50,30,40,60,70,80,90)
print("Between 2 and 7 indexes increment by 1 : ",list1[2:7:1])
print("Between 2 and 7 indexes increment by 2 : ",list1[2:7:2])
print("Between 2 and 7 indexes : ",list1[2:7])

Output :

Between 2 and 7 indexes increment by 1 :  (50, 30, 40, 60, 70)
Between 2 and 7 indexes increment by 2 :  (50, 40, 70)
Between 2 and 7 indexes :  (50, 30, 40, 60, 70)

Note: start includes the index value whereas end excludes the index value.

Traversing List using Loops :

list = [10,20,50,30,40,60,70,80,90]
# Using For loop
for i in list:
    print(i)

#Using while loop
i=0
while i<len(list):
    print(list[i])
    i=i+1

Both logics will give the same output.

List inbuilt Functions :

Here are some of the critical functions in List in Python.

Getting information about List :

• len()

len() function returns the number of elements present in the list.

list = [10,20,50,30,40,60,70,80,90]
print("Length of the list : ",len(list))

Output :

Length of the list : 9

• count()

The count() function returns the number of occurrences of the specified item in the list.

list= [1,2,4,3,3,5,5,6,3,9,9,8]
print(list.count(3))
print(list.count(5))
print(list.count(9))

Output :

3
2
2

• index()

It returns the index of the first occurrence of the given item.

list= [1,2,4,3,3,5,5,6,3,9,9,8]
print(list.index(3))
print(list.index(5))
print(list.index(9))

Output:

3
5
9

Note: If the specified element not present in the list then the index() function throws an error like ValueError: ‘ ‘ is not in the list.

• clear() : The clear() function is used to clear the elements inside a list.

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
print(list1)
list1.clear()
print("After clearing List : ",list1)

Output:

[10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
After clearing List :  []

• max() : The max() function is used to get the max value from the list.

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
print(max(list1))

Output:

50

Manipulating List Elements:

• append()

append() function is used to add the item to the list at the end of the list.

list= []
list.append("C")
list.append("H")
list.append("A")
list.append("N")
list.append("D")
list.append("R")
list.append("A")
print(list)

Output:

['C', 'H', 'A', 'N', 'D', 'R', 'A']

• insert()

The insert() function is used to insert an item to the list at a given index position.

list= [1,2,3,4,5,6]
# inserting 20 at 1st index
list.insert(1,20)
# inserting 50 at 5th index
list.insert(5,50)
print(list)

Output:

[1, 20, 2, 3, 4, 50, 5, 6]

Note: If the given index is greater than the max size of the list, then the element will be inserted at the last position. Similarly, if the specified index is smaller than the min size of the list, then the item will be added at first position.

Difference between append() and list()

• extend()

The extend() function is used to add all items in a list to another list at a time.

list= ['o','n','l','i','n','e']
list2= ['t','u','t','o','r','i','a','l','s']
list3= ['p','o','i','n','t']
list.extend(list2)
list.extend(list3)
print(list)

Output:

['o', 'n', 'l', 'i', 'n', 'e', 't', 'u', 't', 'o', 'r', 'i', 'a', 'l', 's', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't']

• remove()

remove() function is used to remove a specific item from the list. If the specified item found in multiple times, then it will remove the first occurrence.

list= [10,20,30,40,10,20]
list.remove(20)
print(list)

Output:

[10, 30, 40, 10, 20]

• pop()

pop() function is used to remove the last element of the list and returns the popped item.

pop(index) function is used to remove the item based on the given index.

list= [10,20,30,40,10,20,30]
print(list.pop())
print(list.pop())

print(list)
# pop index based
print(list.pop(2))
print(list)

Output:

30
20
[10, 20, 30, 40, 10]
30
[10, 20, 40, 10]

Note: Usually, append, and pop functions are used to implement a stack data structure.

Differences between remove() and pop()

Note: List is a dynamic data structure, i.e. based on our requirement it can grow and shrink. the append(), insert() and extend() functions are used to increase the size of the list whereas remove() and pop() functions are used to shrink the size.

Ordering the List Elements :

• reverse()

The reverse() function is used to make the list elements in reverse order.

list= [10,20,30,40,50]
list.reverse()
print(list)

Output:

[50, 40, 30, 20, 10]

• sort()

In a list, by default insertion order is preserved, if we want to sort the elements of the list according to default natural order, then we can use the sort() method.

• If a List contains only numerical, the default natural sorting order will be Ascending order.
• If a List contains only strings, then the default natural sorting order will be Alphabetical order.
• sort() method apply on List if the List contains homogenous elements. Otherwise, it will give TypeError.

list= [10,30,20,50,80,5]
list.sort()
print(list)

list2= ["CHANDRA","SHEKAHR","GOKA"]
list2.sort()
print(list2)

list3= [50,20,'A','B']
list3.sort()
print(list3)

Output:

[5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 80]
['CHANDRA', 'GOKA', 'SHEKAHR']
Traceback (most recent call last):
    list3.sort()
TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'

Note: In Python2 sort() function supports various elements to sort.

We can also sort a List in reverse of default natural sorting order by using the reverse=true argument.

list= [10,30,20,50,80,5]
list.sort(reverse=True)
print(list)

Output:

[80, 50, 30, 20, 10, 5]

Aliasing and Cloning of List Object :

The process of assigning an existing list reference to another reference variable is called aliasing.

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
list2 = list1
print(id(list1))
print(id(list2))

Output:

2268420908872
2268420908872

The problem with this approach is, if we change one reference value, then it automatically reflected another reference too.

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
list2 = list1
list1[1]=100
print(list1)
print(list2)

Output:

[10, 100, 30, 40, 50]
[10, 100, 30, 40, 50]

To overcome this problem, we should use List Cloning.

List Cloning :

The process of creating a duplicate independent object is called cloning.

• In Python, we can create a clone object by using slice (:) operator or copy() function.

List Cloning using slice operator :

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
list2 = list1[:]
list1[1]=100
print(list1)
print(list2)

Output:

[10, 100, 30, 40, 50]
[10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

List Cloning using copy() function:

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
list2 = list1.copy()
list1[1]=100
print(list1)
print(list2)

Output:

[10, 100, 30, 40, 50]
[10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

How to compare two Lists:

In Python, we can compare two lists using comparison operators.

list1= ['APPLE','BANANA','GRAPES']
list2 = ['APPLE','BANANA','GRAPES']
list3 = ['Apple','Banana','Grapes']

print(list1 == list2)
print(list1 == list3)
print(list1 != list3)

Output:

True
False
True

Note: Whenever we compare the list using comparison operators like (== and !=) the List object considers the following scenarios to examine the elements.

• The number of elements present in a list
• The order of elements
• The content of List (Case sensitivity)

The List can also be compared using relational operators (<,<=,> and >=).

• In the case of relational operators, the comparison happens only on the first element of the list; the remaining elements should be ignored.

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]
list2 = [20,5,4,3,2]

print(list1 > list2)
print(list1 >= list2)
print(list1 < list2)
print(list1 <= list2)

Output:

False
False
True
True

Checking a Specific Element exist in List:

We can test a specific element present in a list or not using membership operators.

• in
• not in

list1= [10,20,30,40,50]

print(30 in list1)
print(100 in list2)
print(20 not in list2)

Output:

True
False
False

Concatenating two Lists:

We can concatenate two lists using the ‘+’ operator.

list1 = [1,2,3,4,5]
list2 = [6,7,8,9,10]
print("New List : ",list1+list2)

Output:

New List :  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Repeating List Elements:

You can repeat the list elements multiple times using the ‘*’ operator.

list1 = [1,2,3,4,5]
print("New List : ",list1*2)

Output:

New List :  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Reference:

• Python List Data structure

Happy Learning 🙂