What can you do with a list?

The full list of list methods is in Python Library Reference. Here's an idea of how you might use and combine these methods to carry out common operations.

Create a list:

• Using range, e.g. nums = list(range(10)).
• By listing the items in the list: mishmash = [14, 'a', 4.19, 'Kate', True] Notice that values of several types can be stored in the same list.

Access an item from a list:

• mishmash[0] is the first item in the list, i.e. 14
• mishmash[1] is the second item in the list, i.e. 'a'
• mishmash[2] is the third item in the list, i.e. 4.19

Access a sublist of a list (called a slice in Python):

• mishmash[1:4] is the sublist of items in mishmash from position 1 up to but not including position 4, i.e. ['a', 4.19, 'Kate']

  Note: that the range is [inclusive:exclusive] thus mishmash[1:1] is []

  Note: a slice always returns a list, so mishmash[1:2] is ['a'] not just 'a'.

Adding items to a list:

• mishmash.append(2) appends 2 to the list, i.e. it adds it to the end of the list so mishmash becomes [14, 'a', 4.19, 'Kate', True, 2]
• mishmash.insert(1, 'hi') inserts the string 'hi' into the list in position 1, i.e. after 14 but before 'a'.
• mishmash = mishmash + ['bye'] appends 'bye' to the list. (Note the []s around 'bye').

Removing items:

• by position: del( mishmash[2] ) deletes the item at position 2 from the list.
• by value: mishmash.remove( 'a' ) removes the first (and only the first) occurrence of 'a' from the list.
• from the end of the list: mishmash.pop() removes the last item in the list.

Getting information about a list and its contents:

• in can be used to test and see if an item is in a list, e.g. if 'a' in mishmash:. Note that in has to loop through the list checking to see if each item is 'a' to do that so it is a relatively slow operation.
• len( mishmash ) returns the length of the list, i.e. the number of items in the list.
• mishmash.index( 'Kate' ) returns the position in which the first occurrence of 'Kate' can be found.
• mishmash.count( 'Kate' ) counts the number of 'Kate's in the list.

Miscellaneous commands you should try out (because they will probably be useful on assignments!):

• mishmash.sort()
• mishmash.reverse()
• mishmash.extend()
• 2*mishmash