List Methods With Return Values
In this lesson, you’ll learn about the additional built-in methods that, unlike the ones in the previous lesson, have return values.
.pop(<index=-1>) removes an element from the list at the specified index. The item that was removed is returned. The default is to remove the last item in the list <index=-1> if no index is specified:
>>> a = ['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a.pop()
'lobster'
>>> a
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham']
>>> b = a.pop()
>>> b
'ham'
>>> a
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato']
>>> a.pop(1)
'egg'
>>> a
['spam', 'bacon', 'tomato']
>>> a.pop(-2)
'bacon'
>>> a
['spam', 'tomato']
.index(<obj>[,<start>[, <end>]]) returns the first index of the value <obj> in the list. Optional start and end indexes can be used. It raises an exception if the value <obj> is not present:
>>> a = ['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a.index('tomato')
3
>>> a[3]
'tomato'
>>> a.index('egg', 0, 4)
1
>>> a.index('egg', 2, 5)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
a.index('egg', 2, 5)
ValueError: 'egg' is not in list
.count(<obj>) returns the number of occurrences of the value <obj> in the list:
>>> a = ['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a.count('ham')
1
>>> b = [2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 6, 2, 100]
>>> b
[2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 6, 2, 100]
>>> b.count(6)
3
>>> b.count(0)
0
>>> b.count(77)
0
mylist.copy() returns a shallow copy of the list. For more details on shallow vs deep copying, check out Shallow vs Deep Copying of Python Objects:
>>> a = ['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> a.copy()
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> b = a.copy()
>>> a == b
True
>>> a is b
False
>>> a[0] = 'trees'
>>> a
['trees', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> b
['spam', 'egg', 'bacon', 'tomato', 'ham', 'lobster']
>>> x = ['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> x[1]
['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff']
>>> x[1][1]
['ccc', 'ddd']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> y = x.copy()
>>> y
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'ee', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> y == x
True
>>> y is x
False
>>> y[1][1]
['ccc', 'ddd']
>>> y[1][2]
'ee'
>>> y[1][2] = 'zz'
>>> y
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> y[2] = 'Bob'
>>> y
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'Bob', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> z = x[:]
>>> z
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'ii'], 'j']
>>> z[3][1]
'ii'
>>> z[3][1] = 'Jerry'
>>> z
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'Jerry'], 'j']
>>> x
['a', ['bb', ['ccc', 'ddd'], 'zz', 'ff'], 'g', ['hh', 'Jerry'], 'j']
kiran on July 24, 2020
Hi can you update this airtical List and Tuples with following methods…?
mylist.index(<obj>[, <start>[, <end>]])
mylist.count(<obj>)
mylist.copy() - returns a shallow copy
if possible shallow vs deep copy too. Thank you.
Become a Member to join the conversation.
kiran on July 24, 2020
Hi can you update this airtical List and Tuples with following methods…?
mylist.index(<obj>[, <start>[, <end>]]) mylist.count(<obj>) mylist.copy() - returns a shallow copy
if possible shallow vs deep copy too. Thank you.