Basics of lists in Python: creation, methods and use for storage and processing of data collections

Python lists are ordered mutable collections of objects of arbitrary types. They are one of the most flexible and frequently used data types in Python programming. Let's take a closer look at the creation, use, and interaction of lists with various types of data.

Creating lists in Python

Empty list

empty_list = []

A list with

elements

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
strings = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
mixed = [1, "apple", 3.14, True]

Creating lists using the list() constructor

# Creating a list from a string
letters = list("hello")
print(letters) # ['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o']

# Creating a list from a range
of numbers = list(range(5))
print(numbers) # [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]

Accessing list items

Indexing of elements

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
# Accessing elements from the beginning
print(fruits[0])  # apple
print(fruits[1])  # banana
print(fruits[2])  # cherry

# Accessing elements from the end
print(fruits[-1]) # cherry
print(fruits[-2]) # banana
print(fruits[-3]) # apple

Slicing

numbers = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
print(numbers[2:5])    # [2, 3, 4]
print(numbers[:3])     # [0, 1, 2]
print(numbers[7:])     # [7, 8, 9]
print(numbers[::2])    # [0, 2, 4, 6, 8]
print(numbers[::-1])   # [9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0]

Changing list items

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
fruits[1] = "blueberry"
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'blueberry', 'cherry']

# Changing multiple elements through a slice
fruits[1:3] = ["orange", "grape"]
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'orange', 'grape']

Adding items to the list

The append() method

Adds an item to the end of the list.

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]
fruits.append("cherry")
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

Insert() method

Inserts the element at the specified position.

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]
fruits.insert(1, "blueberry")
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'blueberry', 'banana']

Extend() method

Expands the list by adding all the elements from the passed iterable object to the end.

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]
more_fruits = ["cherry", "date"]
fruits.extend(more_fruits)
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'date']

The += operator for adding elements

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]
fruits += ["cherry", "date"]
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'date']

Removing items from the list

The remove() method

Deletes the first occurrence of the specified value.

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
fruits.remove("banana")
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'cherry']

The pop() method

Deletes and returns the element at the specified index.

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
popped_fruit = fruits.pop(1)
print(popped_fruit)  # banana
print(fruits)  # ['apple', 'cherry']

# Deleting the last element
last_fruit = fruits.pop()
print(last_fruit) # cherry

The del operator

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "date"]
del fruits[1] # Deletes element by index
del fruits[1:3] # Deletes slice
print(fruits)

Clear() method

Deletes all items from the list.

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
fruits.clear()
print(fruits)  # []

Searching for items in the list

The index() method

Returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified value.

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
index = fruits.index("banana")
print(index)  # 1

# Search with a range
of numbers = [1, 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 5]
index = numbers.index(2, 2, 6) # Searches for 2 in the range [2:6]
print(index)  # 3

Count() method

Returns the number of occurrences of the specified value.

numbers = [1, 2, 2, 3, 2]
count = numbers.count(2)
print(count)  # 3

The in operator for checking the presence of an element

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
print("banana" in fruits)     # True
print("orange" not in fruits) # True

Sorting the list

Sort() method

Sorts the list in place.

numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2]
numbers.sort()
print(numbers)  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9]

# Sort in reverse order
numbers.sort(reverse=True)
print(numbers) # [9, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1]

# Sorting strings by length
words = ["python", "java", "c", "javascript"]
words.sort(key=len)
print(words)  # ['c', 'java', 'python', 'javascript']

sorted() function

Returns a new sorted list.

numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2]
sorted_numbers = sorted(numbers)
print(sorted_numbers)  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9]
print(numbers)         # [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2] ( the original one has not changed)

List Conversion

The reverse() method

Reverses the order of the items in the list.

numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2]
numbers.reverse()
print(numbers)  # [2, 9, 5, 1, 4, 1, 3]

Function reversed()

Returns an iterator with the elements in reverse order.

numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2]
reversed_numbers = list(reversed(numbers))
print(reversed_numbers)  # [2, 9, 5, 1, 4, 1, 3]

Copying lists

Surface copying

# Method copy()
original = [1, 2, 3]
copy = original.copy()
print(copy) # [1, 2, 3]

# Slice
copy = original[:]
print(copy) # [1, 2, 3]

# List() constructor
copy = list(original)
print(copy)  # [1, 2, 3]

Deep copy

To deeply copy nested lists, use the copy module.

import copy

original = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
deep_copy = copy.deepcopy(original)
shallow_copy = copy.copy(original)

original[0][0] = 999
print(original)      # [[999, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
print(shallow_copy)  # [[999, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
print(deep_copy)     # [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]

Table of basic list methods

method

The	Description	Usage example
append(x)	Adds the x element to the end of the list	lst.append(3)
extend(iterable)	Expands the list by adding all the elements from the iterated object	lst.extend([4, 5])
insert(i, x)	Inserts element x at position i	lst.insert(1, 2)
remove(x)	Deletes the first element with the value x	lst.remove(3)
pop([i])	Deletes and returns an element at position i	lst.pop(), lst.pop(1)
clear()	Deletes all items from the list	lst.clear()
index(x)	Returns the index of the first element with the value x	lst.index(3)
count(x)	Returns the number of elements with the value x	lst.count(3)
sort()	Sorts the list in place	lst.sort()
reverse()	Expands the list in place	lst.reverse()
copy()	Returns a shallow copy of the list	lst.copy()

Lists and various data types

Lists with strings

words = ["hello", "world", "python"]
joined = " ".join(words)
print(joined)  # "hello world python"

split_words = joined.split()
print(split_words)  # ['hello', 'world', 'python']

# Sorting rows
words.sort()
print(words)  # ['hello', 'python', 'world']

Lists with numbers

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
squares = [x ** 2 for x in numbers]
print(squares)  # [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

# Mathematical operations
print(sum(numbers))    # 15
print(max(numbers))    # 5
print(min(numbers))    # 1

Lists with boolean values

booleans = [True, False, True]
all_true = all(booleans)
any_true = any(booleans)
print(all_true)  # False
print(any_true)  # True

Multidimensional lists

# Two-dimensional list (matrix)
matrix = [
    [1, 2, 3],
    [4, 5, 6],
    [7, 8, 9]
]

# Access to the elements
print(matrix[0][1])  # 2
print(matrix[2][0])  # 7

# Iterating over the matrix
for row in matrix:
    for elem in row:
        print(elem, end=' ')
    print()

Iterating through lists

Simple iteration

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
for fruit in fruits:
    print(fruit)

Iteration with indexes

fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
for index, fruit in enumerate(fruits):
    print(f"Index {index}: {fruit}")

# Iterating with range()
for i in range(len(fruits)):
    print(f"Index {i}: {fruits[i]}")

Iterating over multiple lists

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
ages = [25, 30, 35]

for name, age in zip(names, ages):
    print(f"{name} is {age} years old")

List Comprehensions

Basic list generators

# Simple
squares generator = [x ** 2 for x in range(10)]
print(squares) # [0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81]

# Generator with the condition
even_squares = [x ** 2 for x in range(10) if x % 2 == 0]
print(even_squares) # [0, 4, 16, 36, 64]

# Complex generator
words = ["hello", "world", "python"]
uppercase_words = [word.upper() for word in words if len(word) > 4]
print(uppercase_words)  # ['HELLO', 'WORLD', 'PYTHON']

Nested list generators

#
Matrix creation matrix = [[i * j for j in range(1, 4)] for i in range(1, 4)]
print(matrix) # [[1, 2, 3], [2, 4, 6], [3, 6, 9]]

# Converting a matrix to a flat list
flat_list = [item for row in matrix for item in row]
print(flat_list)  # [1, 2, 3, 2, 4, 6, 3, 6, 9]

Built-in functions for working with lists

The len() function

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(len(numbers))  # 5

Functions sum(), max(), min()

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(sum(numbers))  # 15
print(max(numbers))  # 5
print(min(numbers))  # 1

zip() function

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
ages = [25, 30, 35]
cities = ["New York", "Los Angeles", "Chicago"]

for name, age, city in zip(names, ages, cities):
    print(f"{name} is {age} years old and lives in {city}")

map() function

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
squares = list(map(lambda x: x ** 2, numbers))
print(squares)  # [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

# Applying a function to strings
words = ["hello", "world"]
upper_words = list(map(str.upper, words))
print(upper_words)  # ['HELLO', 'WORLD']

filter() function

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
even_numbers = list(filter(lambda x: x % 2 == 0, numbers))
print(even_numbers)  # [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

# String filtering
words = ["python", "java", "c", "javascript", "go"]
long_words = list(filter(lambda word: len(word) > 3, words))
print(long_words)  # ['python', 'java', 'javascript']

Reduce() function

from functools import reduce

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
product = reduce(lambda x, y: x * y, numbers)
print(product)  # 120

# Finding the maximum
maximum = reduce(lambda x, y: x if x > y else y, numbers)
print(maximum)  # 5

Useful list operations

Rotating the list

def rotate_list(lst, k):
"""Rotates the list k positions to the right"""
n = len(lst)
k = k % n # Handling cases when k is longer than the list length
    return lst[-k:] + lst[:-k]

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
rotated = rotate_list(numbers, 2)
print(rotated)  # [4, 5, 1, 2, 3]

Removing duplicates

# An easy way (does not preserve the order)
of numbers = [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5]
unique_numbers = list(set(numbers))
print(unique_numbers)  # [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# Preserving the order
of def remove_duplicates(lst):
    seen = set()
    result = []
    for item in lst:
        if item not in seen:
            seen.add(item)
            result.append(item)
    return result

numbers = [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5]
unique_ordered = remove_duplicates(numbers)
print(unique_ordered)  # [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Splitting the list into parts

def chunk_list(lst, n):
"""Divides the list into parts of size n"""
    return [lst[i:i + n] for i in range(0, len(lst), n)]

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
chunks = chunk_list(numbers, 3)
print(chunks)  # [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]

List comparison

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [1, 2, 3]
list3 = [3, 2, 1]

print(list1 == list2)  # True
print(list1 == list3)  # False
print(list1 is list2)  # False

# Comparing the content without taking into account the order
print(set(list1) == set(list3))  # True

Combining lists

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [4, 5, 6]
list3 = [7, 8, 9]

# Different ways to combine
combined1 = list1 + list2 + list3
combined2 = [*list1, *list2, *list3]
combined3 = []
combined3.extend(list1)
combined3.extend(list2)
combined3.extend(list3)

print(combined1)  # [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Performance and optimization

Choosing between append() and extend()

# Slower for adding multiple
lst elements = []
for item in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]:
    lst.append(item)

# Faster for adding multiple elements
lst = []
lst.extend([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])

Using list generators instead of loops

# Slower
squares = []
for x in range(1000):
    squares.append(x ** 2)

# Faster
squares = [x ** 2 for x in range(1000)]