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Find the First Index Where a Condition Is True in Python
Search any iterable for the first element matching a predicate and return its index, or -1 if none match.
def first_true_index(items, condition):
"""Return the first index where condition(item) is True, or -1 if none match."""
for i, item in enumerate(items):
if condition(item):
return i
return -1
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12]
# Find first number greate…Find the Last Index Where a Condition Is True in Python
This code scans a sequence from the end and returns the index of the last element that satisfies a given condition, or -1 if none do.
def last_index_where(sequence, condition):
"""Return the index of the last element in sequence that satisfies condition."""
for i in range(len(sequence) - 1, -1, -1):
if condition(sequence[i]):
return i
return -1
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [1, 4, 7, 2, 9, 5, 8, 3]
is_…Find the Majority Element in Python with Boyer-Moore Vote
Use Boyer-Moore majority vote to find the element appearing more than n/2 times in an array in O(n) time and O(1) space.
def majority_element(nums):
candidate = None
count = 0
for num in nums:
if count == 0:
candidate = num
count += 1 if num == candidate else -1
return candidate
if __name__ == "__main__":
nums = [2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2]
result = majority_element(nums)
print(f"Major…Find the Second Largest Unique Number in a Python List
This Python function finds the second largest unique number from a list by converting it to a set, removing the maximum, and returning the new maximum.
def second_largest_unique(numbers):
unique_numbers = set(numbers)
if len(unique_numbers) < 2:
return None
unique_numbers.remove(max(unique_numbers))
return max(unique_numbers)
if __name__ == "__main__":
test_list = [4, 2, 9, 5, 2, 9, 1, 5]
result = second_largest_unique(test_list)
…Find two unique numbers in an array with Python
Returns the two numbers that appear exactly once in a list where every other number appears twice, using XOR bit manipulation.
def find_two_odd(arr):
"""Return the two numbers that appear exactly once, while all others appear twice."""
xor_all = 0
for num in arr:
xor_all ^= num
# xor_all now equals the XOR of the two unique numbers.
# Find a set bit (any bit where they differ).
diff_bit = xor_all & (-xor_all)
…Game of Life Next State Grid in Python
Compute the next generation of Conway's Game of Life from a 2D grid using the standard three rules with neighbor counting.
def next_state(grid):
m, n = len(grid), len(grid[0])
new = [[0] * n for _ in range(m)]
for r in range(m):
for c in range(n):
total = 0
for dr in (-1, 0, 1):
for dc in (-1, 0, 1):
if dr == 0 and dc == 0:
continue
…Generate Pascal's Triangle Rows in Python
Builds Pascal's triangle as a list of rows, where each inner value is the sum of the two values above it.
def generate_pascals_triangle(rows):
triangle = []
for row_num in range(rows):
row = [1] * (row_num + 1)
for col in range(1, row_num):
row[col] = triangle[row_num - 1][col - 1] + triangle[row_num - 1][col]
triangle.append(row)
return triangle
if __name__ == "__main__":
…How to Add Two Lists Elementwise in Python
Add two equal-length lists element by element using a list comprehension with zip, returning a new list of summed values.
def elementwise_add(list1, list2):
return [a + b for a, b in zip(list1, list2)]
if __name__ == "__main__":
list_a = [1, 2, 3, 4]
list_b = [10, 20, 30, 40]
result = elementwise_add(list_a, list_b)
print(result)How to Apply a Function to Sliding Window Slices in Python
This Python code applies a given function to every contiguous window of a specified size in a list, returning a list of results.
def apply_to_sliding_windows(data, window_size, func):
return [func(data[i:i + window_size]) for i in range(len(data) - window_size + 1)]
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
window_size = 3
results = apply_to_sliding_windows(numbers, window_size, sum)
print(results)
results…How to Build a Coordinate Grid with Nested Loops in Python
Generate a 2D list of (row, col) coordinate pairs using nested loops and return the grid structure.
def build_coordinate_grid(rows, cols):
"""Build a 2D grid of (row, col) coordinates using nested loops."""
grid = []
for r in range(rows):
row = []
for c in range(cols):
row.append((r, c))
grid.append(row)
return grid
if __name__ == "__main__":
grid = build_coo…How to Combine filter and map with a List Comprehension in Python
This Python code demonstrates how to combine filtering and mapping in a single list comprehension and shows the equivalent filter() and map() approach.
def square(x):
return x * x
def is_even(x):
return x % 2 == 0
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
result = [square(x) for x in numbers if is_even(x)]
print(f"Original numbers: {numbers}")
print(f"Squares of even numbers: {result}")
# Combined filter + map equivalent
filtered = filter(is_even, numbers)
mapp…How to Compare Two Lists Elementwise for Greater Flags in Python
Compare two equal-length lists element by element and return a list of booleans marking where list_a values are greater than list_b values.
def compare_lists_greater(list_a, list_b):
"""
Compare two lists elementwise and return a list of booleans
indicating whether each element in list_a is greater than the
corresponding element in list_b.
"""
if len(list_a) != len(list_b):
raise ValueError("Lists must have the same length"…How to Compute Cosine Similarity Between Two Vectors in Python
This code calculates the cosine similarity between two numeric vectors using the dot product and Euclidean norms, returning a value between -1 and 1.
import math
def cosine_similarity(vec_a, vec_b):
if len(vec_a) != len(vec_b):
raise ValueError("Vectors must have the same length")
dot_product = sum(a * b for a, b in zip(vec_a, vec_b))
norm_a = math.sqrt(sum(a * a for a in vec_a))
norm_b = math.sqrt(sum(b * b for b in vec_b))
i…How to Compute the Cartesian Product of Two Lists in Python
Generates all ordered pairs from two lists using itertools.product and prints each combination.
from itertools import product
# Two small input lists
list_a = [1, 2, 3]
list_b = ["x", "y"]
# Compute the Cartesian product
result = list(product(list_a, list_b))
# Display the result
print("Cartesian product of", list_a, "and", list_b, "is:")
for pair in result:
print(pair)How to Compute the Dot Product of Two Lists in Python
Compute the dot product of two equal-length numeric lists using a generator expression with zip and sum.
def dot_product(list1, list2):
"""
Compute the dot product of two numeric lists.
The lists must have the same length.
"""
if len(list1) != len(list2):
raise ValueError("Lists must have the same length")
return sum(a * b for a, b in zip(list1, list2))
if __name__ == "__main__":
…How to Count Distinct Elements in a List in Python
Count the number of unique items in a list by converting it to a set and returning its length.
def count_distinct_elements(items):
return len(set(items))
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = [1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6]
result = count_distinct_elements(sample)
print(result)How to Count Occurrences of Each Value in Python
Count how many times each value appears in a list using Python's Counter from the collections module.
from collections import Counter
def count_occurrences(values):
"""Return a dictionary mapping each value to its count."""
return dict(Counter(values))
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample_data = ["apple", "banana", "apple", "cherry", "banana", "apple"]
result = count_occurrences(sample_data)
print(r…How to Decode a String with Repeated Brackets in Python
Decodes strings with patterns like '3[a]2[bc]' by using a stack to handle nested and repeated bracket groups.
def decode_string(s: str) -> str:
stack = []
current_num = 0
current_str = ""
for ch in s:
if ch.isdigit():
current_num = current_num * 10 + int(ch)
elif ch == "[":
stack.append((current_str, current_num))
current_str = ""
current_num = 0…How to Detect Hardcoded Secrets in Python Source Code
A Python utility that scans source code for common hardcoded secrets like API keys, passwords, tokens, and AWS credentials using regex patterns.
import re
def detect_secrets(text):
"""Detect potential hardcoded secrets in source code."""
patterns = {
'api_key': r'(?i)(api[_-]?key|apikey)\s*[=:]\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']',
'password': r'(?i)(password|passwd)\s*[=:]\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']',
'token': r'(?i)(\b(token|secret)\b)\s*[=:]\s…How to Evaluate RPN Expressions in Python
Use a stack to evaluate Reverse Polish Notation token lists with a dictionary of operator lambdas, truncating division toward zero.
def eval_rpn(tokens):
stack = []
ops = {
'+': lambda a, b: a + b,
'-': lambda a, b: a - b,
'*': lambda a, b: a * b,
'/': lambda a, b: int(a / b) # truncate toward zero
}
for token in tokens:
if token in ops:
b = stack.pop()
a = stack.pop(…How to Find Gaps Between Sorted Intervals in Python
This code finds gap ranges between sorted intervals using pairwise iteration, returning ranges where no interval covers.
from itertools import pairwise
def find_gaps(intervals):
intervals = sorted(intervals)
gaps = []
for prev, curr in pairwise(intervals):
if prev[1] < curr[0]:
gaps.append((prev[1] + 1, curr[0] - 1))
return gaps
if __name__ == "__main__":
intervals = [(1, 3), (5, 7), (10, 12), (…How to Find Minimum Swaps to Sort an Array in Python
Calculate the minimum number of adjacent-free swaps needed to sort a permutation array using cycle detection in Python.
def min_swaps_to_sort(arr):
n = len(arr)
arr_pos = sorted((val, idx) for idx, val in enumerate(arr))
visited = [False] * n
swaps = 0
for i in range(n):
if visited[i] or arr_pos[i][1] == i:
continue
cycle_size = 0
j = i
while not visited[j]:
…How to Find the Nearest Value to a Target in a Sorted List in Python
Use bisect to binary-search a sorted list and return the element closest to a target value.
import bisect
def nearest_value(sorted_list, target):
if not sorted_list:
return None
pos = bisect.bisect_left(sorted_list, target)
if pos == 0:
return sorted_list[0]
if pos == len(sorted_list):
return sorted_list[-1]
before = sorted_list[pos - 1]
after = sorted_list[po…How to Find the Next Greater Element for Each List Item in Python
Use a monotonic stack to find the next greater element to the right for every item in a list, in O(n) time.
def next_greater_element(nums):
result = [-1] * len(nums)
stack = []
for i in range(len(nums) - 1, -1, -1):
while stack and stack[-1] <= nums[i]:
stack.pop()
result[i] = stack[-1] if stack else -1
stack.append(nums[i])
return result
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