Lists
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Subsections
Variables with more than one value
You have already seen ordinary variables that store a single value. However other variable types can hold more than one value. The simplest type is called a list. Here is a example of a list being used:
which_one = input("What month (1-12)? ")
months = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July',\
'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December']
if 1 <= which_one <= 12:
print "The month is",months[which_one - 1]
and a output example:
What month (1-12)? 3 The month is March
In this example the months is a list. months is defined with the lines months = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July',\ 'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'] (Note that a \ can be used to split a long line). The [ and ] start and end the list with comma's (``,'') separating the list items. The list is used in months[which_one - 1]. A list consists of items that are numbered starting at 0. In other words if you wanted January you would use months[0]. Give a list a number and it will return the value that is stored at that location.
The statement if 1 <= which_one <= 12: will only be true if which_one is between one and twelve inclusive (in other words it is what you would expect if you have seen that in algebra).
Lists can be thought of as a series of boxes. For example, the boxes created by demolist = ['life',42, 'the universe', 6,'and',7] would look like this:
| box number | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| demolist | `life' | 42 | `the universe' | 6 | `and' | 7 |
Each box is referenced by its number so the statement demolist[0] would get 'life', demolist[1] would get 42 and so on up to demolist[5] getting 7.
More features of lists
The next example is just to show a lot of other stuff lists can do (for once I don't expect you to type it in, but you should probably play around with lists until you are comfortable with them.). Here goes:
demolist = ['life',42, 'the universe', 6,'and',7]
print 'demolist = ',demolist
demolist.append('everything')
print "after 'everything' was appended demolist is now:"
print demolist
print 'len(demolist) =', len(demolist)
print 'demolist.index(42) =',demolist.index(42)
print 'demolist[1] =', demolist[1]
#Next we will loop through the list
c = 0
while c < len(demolist):
print 'demolist[',c,']=',demolist[c]
c = c + 1
del demolist[2]
print "After 'the universe' was removed demolist is now:"
print demolist
if 'life' in demolist:
print "'life' was found in demolist"
else:
print "'life' was not found in demolist"
if 'amoeba' in demolist:
print "'amoeba' was found in demolist"
if 'amoeba' not in demolist:
print "'amoeba' was not found in demolist"
demolist.sort()
print 'The sorted demolist is ',demolist
The output is:
demolist = ['life', 42, 'the universe', 6, 'and', 7] after 'everything' was appended demolist is now: ['life', 42, 'the universe', 6, 'and', 7, 'everything'] len(demolist) = 7 demolist.index(42) = 1 demolist[1] = 42 demolist[ 0 ]= life demolist[ 1 ]= 42 demolist[ 2 ]= the universe demolist[ 3 ]= 6 demolist[ 4 ]= and demolist[ 5 ]= 7 demolist[ 6 ]= everything After 'the universe' was removed demolist is now: ['life', 42, 6, 'and', 7, 'everything'] 'life' was found in demolist 'amoeba' was not found in demolist The sorted demolist is [6, 7, 42, 'and', 'everything', 'life']
This example uses a whole bunch of new functions. Notice that you can
just print a whole list. Next the append function is used
to add a new item to the end of the list. len returns how many
items are in a list. The valid indexes (as in numbers that can be
used inside of the []) of a list range from 0 to len - 1. The
index function tell where the first location of an item is
located in a list. Notice how demolist.index(42) returns 1 and
when demolist[1] is run it returns 42. The line
#Next we will loop through the list is a just a reminder to the
programmer (also called a comment). Python will ignore any lines that
start with a #. Next the lines:
c = 0
while c < len(demolist):
print 'demolist[',c,']=',demolist[c]
c = c + 1
Create a variable c which starts at 0 and is incremented until it reaches the last index of the list. Meanwhile the print statement prints out each element of the list.
The del command can be used to remove a given element in a list. The next few lines use the in operator to test if a element is in or is not in a list.
The sort function sorts the list. This is useful if you need a
list in order from smallest number to largest or alphabetical. Note
that this rearranges the list.
In summary for a list the following operations occur:
| example | explanation |
| list[2] | accesses the element at index 2 |
| list[2] = 3 | sets the element at index 2 to be 3 |
| del list[2] | removes the element at index 2 |
| len(list) | returns the length of list |
| "value" in list | is true if "value" is an element in list |
| "value" not in list | is true if "value" is not an element in list |
| list.sort() | sorts list |
| list.index("value") | returns the index of the first place that "value" occurs |
| list.append("value") | adds an element "value" at the end of the list |
This next example uses these features in a more useful way:
menu_item = 0
list = []
while menu_item != 9:
print "--------------------"
print "1. Print the list"
print "2. Add a name to the list"
print "3. Remove a name from the list"
print "4. Change an item in the list"
print "9. Quit"
menu_item = input("Pick an item from the menu: ")
if menu_item == 1:
current = 0
if len(list) > 0:
while current < len(list):
print current,". ",list[current]
current = current + 1
else:
print "List is empty"
elif menu_item == 2:
name = raw_input("Type in a name to add: ")
list.append(name)
elif menu_item == 3:
del_name = raw_input("What name would you like to remove: ")
if del_name in list:
item_number = list.index(del_name)
del list[item_number]
#The code above only removes the first occurance of
# the name. The code below from Gerald removes all.
#while del_name in list:
# item_number = list.index(del_name)
# del list[item_number]
else:
print del_name," was not found"
elif menu_item == 4:
old_name = raw_input("What name would you like to change: ")
if old_name in list:
item_number = list.index(old_name)
new_name = raw_input("What is the new name: ")
list[item_number] = new_name
else:
print old_name," was not found"
print "Goodbye"
And here is part of the output:
-------------------- 1. Print the list 2. Add a name to the list 3. Remove a name from the list 4. Change an item in the list 9. Quit Pick an item from the menu: 2 Type in a name to add: Jack Pick an item from the menu: 2 Type in a name to add: Jill Pick an item from the menu: 1 0 . Jack 1 . Jill Pick an item from the menu: 3 What name would you like to remove: Jack Pick an item from the menu: 4 What name would you like to change: Jill What is the new name: Jill Peters Pick an item from the menu: 1 0 . Jill Peters Pick an item from the menu: 9 Goodbye
That was a long program. Let's take a look at the source code. The line list = [] makes the variable list a list with no items (or elements). The next important line is while menu_item != 9:. This line starts a loop that allows the menu system for this program. The next few lines display a menu and decide which part of the program to run.
The section:
current = 0
if len(list) > 0:
while current < len(list):
print current,". ",list[current]
current = current + 1
else:
print "List is empty"
goes through the list and prints each name. len(list_name) tell how many items are in a list. If len returns 0 then the list is empty.
Then a few lines later the statement list.append(name) appears. It uses the append function to add a item to the end of the list. Jump down another two lines and notice this section of code:
item_number = list.index(del_name) del list[item_number]Here the index function is used to find the index value that will be used later to remove the item.
del list[item_number] is used to remove a element of the list.
The next section
old_name = raw_input("What name would you like to change: ")
if old_name in list:
item_number = list.index(old_name)
new_name = raw_input("What is the new name: ")
list[item_number] = new_name
else:
print old_name," was not found"
uses index to find the item_number and then puts new_name where the old_name was.
Congraduations, with lists under your belt, you now know enough of the language that you could do any computations that a computer can do (this is technically known as Turing-Completness). Of course, there are still many features that are used to make your life easier.
Examples
test.py
## This program runs a test of knowledge
true = 1
false = 0
# First get the test questions
# Later this will be modified to use file io.
def get_questions():
# notice how the data is stored as a list of lists
return [["What color is the daytime sky on a clear day?","blue"],\
["What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?","42"],\
["What is a three letter word for mouse trap?","cat"]]
# This will test a single question
# it takes a single question in
# it returns true if the user typed the correct answer, otherwise false
def check_question(question_and_answer):
#extract the question and the answer from the list
question = question_and_answer[0]
answer = question_and_answer[1]
# give the question to the user
given_answer = raw_input(question)
# compare the user's answer to the testers answer
if answer == given_answer:
print "Correct"
return true
else:
print "Incorrect, correct was:",answer
return false
# This will run through all the questions
def run_test(questions):
if len(questions) == 0:
print "No questions were given."
# the return exits the function
return
index = 0
right = 0
while index < len(questions):
#Check the question
if check_question(questions[index]):
right = right + 1
#go to the next question
index = index + 1
#notice the order of the computation, first multiply, then divide
print "You got ",right*100/len(questions),"% right out of",len(questions)
#now lets run the questions
run_test(get_questions())
Sample Output:
What color is the daytime sky on a clear day?green Incorrect, correct was: blue What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?42 Correct What is a three letter word for mouse trap?cat Correct You got 66 % right out of 3
Exercises
Expand the test.py program so it has menu giving the option of taking the test, viewing the list of questions and answers, and an option to Quit. Also, add a new question to ask, "What noise does a truly advanced machine make?" with the answer of "ping".
Next: For Loops Up: Non-Programmers Tutorial For Python Previous: Defining Functions Contents Josh Cogliati jjc@honors.montana.edu Wikibooks Version: Wikibooks Non-programmers Python Tutorial Contents