Python Lists

Lecture_6
A List is a kind of Collection
• A collection allows us to put many values in a single “variable”
• A collection is nice because we can carry all many values around in
one convenient package.
friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally' ]

carryon = [ 'socks', 'shirt', 'perfume'

]
 What is not a “Collection”
• Most of our variables have one value in them - when we put a new
value in the variable - the old value is over written
$ python
Python 2.5.2 (r252:60911, Feb 22 2008, 07:57:53)
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5363)] on
darwin
>>> x = 2
>>> x = 4
>>> print x
4
 List Constants
• List constants are surrounded by >>> print [1, 24, 76]
square brakets and the elements [1, 24, 76]
in the list are separated by >>> print ['red', 'yellow', 'blue']
commas. ['red', 'yellow', 'blue']
>>> print ['red', 24, 98.6]
['red', 24,
• A list element can be any Python 98.599999999999994]
object - even another list >>> print [ 1, [5, 6], 7]
[1, [5, 6], 7]
• A list can be empty >>> print []
[]
 We already use lists!

5
for i in [5, 4, 3, 2, 1] : 4
print i 3
print ‘Hello!' 2
1
Hello!
Lists and definite loops - best pals

friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally']

for friend in friends :
print 'Happy New Year:', Happy New Year: Joseph
friend Happy New Year: Glenn
print 'Done!' Happy New Year: Sally
Done!
 Looking Inside Lists

• Just like strings, we can get at any single element in a list using an
index specified in square brackets

>>> friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally'

]
Joseph Glenn Sally >>> print friends[1]
0 1 2 Glenn
>>>
Lists are Mutable >>> fruit = 'Banana’
>>> fruit[0] = 'b’
Traceback
• Strings are "immutable" - we TypeError: 'str' object does not
cannot change the contents of support item assignment
a string - we must make a >>> x = fruit.lower()
new string to make any >>> print x
change banana
>>> lotto = [2, 14, 26, 41, 63]
>>> print lotto[2, 14, 26, 41, 63]
• Lists are "mutable" - we can >>> lotto[2] = 28
change an element of a list >>> print lotto
using the index operator [2, 14, 28, 41, 63]
 How Long is a List?

>>> greet = 'Hello Bob’

• The len() function takes a list as a >>> print len(greet)
parameter and returns the 9
number of elements in the list >>> x = [ 1, 2, 'joe', 99]
>>> print len(x)
• Actually len() tells us the number 4
of elements of any set or >>>
sequence (i.e. such as a string...)
 Using the range function
>>> print range(4)
[0, 1, 2, 3]
• The range function returns a list >>> friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn',
of numbers that range from zero 'Sally']
to one less than the parameter >>> print len(friends)
3
• We can construct an index loop >>> print range(len(friends))
using for and an integer iterator [0, 1, 2]
>>>
 A tale of two loops...
>>> friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn',
friends = ['Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally'] 'Sally']
>>> print len(friends)
for friend in friends : 3
print 'Happy New Year:', >>> print range(len(friends))
friend [0, 1, 2]
>>>
for i in range(len(friends)) : Happy New Year:
friend = friends[i] Joseph
print 'Happy New Year:', Happy New Year:
friend Glenn
Happy New Year: Sally
 Concatenating lists using +
>>> a = [1, 2,
3]
>>> b = [4, 5,
6]
• We can create a new list by adding >>> c = a + b
two exsiting lists together >>> print c
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>> print a
[1, 2, 3]
 Lists can be sliced using :
>>> t = [9, 41, 12, 3, 74,
15]
>>> t[1:3] Remember: Just like in
[41,12] strings, the second
>>> t[:4] number is "up to but not
[9, 41, 12, 3] including"
>>> t[3:]
[3, 74, 15]
>>> t[:]
[9, 41, 12, 3, 74, 15]
 List Methods

>>> x = list()
>>> type(x)<type 'list'>
>>> dir(x)['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop',
'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']
>>>
 Building a list from scratch

>>> stuff = list()

• We can create an empty >>> stuff.append('book')
list and then add elements
>>> stuff.append(99)
using the append method
>>> print stuff
['book', 99]
• The list stays in order and >>> stuff.append('cookie')
new elements are added at >>> print stuff
the end of the list ['book', 99, 'cookie']
 Is Something in a List?
• Python provides two
operators that let you >>> some = [1, 9, 21, 10,
check if an item is in a list 16]
>>> 9 in some
True
• These are logical >>> 15 in some
operators that return False
True or False >>> 20 not in some
True
• They do not modify the >>>
list
 A List is an Ordered Sequence
• A list can hold many items
and keeps those items in the >>> friends = [ 'Joseph', 'Glenn', 'Sally'
order until we do something ]
to change the order >>> friends.sort()
>>> print friends
• A list can be sorted (i.e. ['Glenn', 'Joseph', 'Sally']
>>> print friends[1]
change its order)
Joseph>>>
• The sort method (unlike in
strings) means "sort yourself"
 Built in Functions and Lists
>>> nums = [3, 41, 12, 9, 74,
15]
• There are a number of >>> print len(nums)
functions built into Python 6
that take lists as >>> print max(nums)
parameters 74>>> print min(nums)
3
• Remember the loops we >>> print sum(nums)
built? These are much 154
simpler >>> print sum(nums)/len(nums)
25
 Enter a number: 3
total = 0
count = 0 Enter a number: 9
while True : Enter a number: 5
inp = input('Enter a number: ')
if inp == 'done' : break Enter a number: done
value = float(inp)
total = total + value
Average: 5.66666666667
count = count + 1

average = total / count

print 'Average:', average
numlist = list()
while True :
inp = input('Enter a number: ')
if inp == 'done' : break
value = float(inp)
numlist.append(value)

average = sum(numlist) / len(numlist)

print 'Average:', average
 Best Friends: Strings and Lists
>>> print stuff
>>> abc = 'With three words’
['With', 'three',
>>> stuff = abc.split()
'words']
>>> print stuff >>> for w in stuff :
['With', 'three', 'words']
... print w
>>> print len(stuff)
...
3 With
>>> print stuff[0] Three
With
Words
>>>
Split breaks a string into parts produces a list of strings. We think of these as
words. We can access a particular word or loop through all the words.
>>> line = 'A lot of spaces’
>>> etc = line.split()
>>> print etc['A', 'lot', 'of', 'spaces']
>>>
>>> line = 'first;second;third’
>>> thing = line.split()
>>> print thing['first;second;third']
>>> print len(thing)
1
>>> thing = line.split(';')
>>> print thing['first', 'second', 'third']
>>> print len(thing)
3 When you do not specify a delimiter, multiple
>>>
spaces are treated like “one” delimiter.

You can specify what delimiter character to

use in the splitting.
 List Summary
• Concept of a collection
• Lists and definite loops
• Indexing and lookup
• List mutability
Questions