Comprehensions & generators
List/dict/set comprehensions, generator expressions, and lazy iteration.
Build a Generator Pipeline in Python: Filter Then Map
Create a lazy data pipeline by chaining generator functions that read, filter, map, and write data step by step.
def read_data():
return ["a", "bb", "ccc", "dd", "eeeee", "f"]
def filter_short(words):
return (word for word in words if len(word) >= 2)
def map_to_upper(words):
return (word.upper() for word in words)
def write_data(words):
for word in words:
print(word)
if __name__ == "__main__":
…
Build a lazy generator to read file lines in Python
Create a generator function that yields file lines one at a time, avoiding loading the entire file into memory, and demonstrate its lazy processing.
def lazy_lines(filepath):
"""Yield lines from a file one at a time without loading the whole file into memory."""
with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
for line in file:
yield line.rstrip('\n')
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Create a sample file to demonstrate
sample_c…
Convert Data in Python with Comprehensions and Generators
Convert mixed data to integers, filter and transform numbers, and extract fields from dicts using list comprehensions and generator expressions.
def convert_numbers(data):
"""Convert a list of mixed values into integers using a comprehension."""
return [int(item) for item in data if item is not None]
def double_even_numbers(numbers):
"""Double only even numbers using a generator expression."""
return (n * 2 for n in numbers if n % 2 == 0)
d…
Count Data in Python with Comprehensions and Generators
Count list items with a dict comprehension and generate squares lazily with a generator expression, printing both results.
from collections import Counter
data = ["apple", "banana", "apple", "cherry", "banana", "apple"]
counts = {item: data.count(item) for item in set(data)}
square_gen = (x * x for x in range(5))
squares = list(square_gen)
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("Manual count:", counts)
print("Counter:", dict(Counter…
Cycle an iterable forever in Python
Define a generator that repeatedly yields items from an iterable, cycling back to the beginning infinitely.
def cycle_generator(iterable):
"""Yield items from iterable forever, cycling back to the start."""
items = list(iterable) # Convert to list so it can restart
index = 0
while True:
yield items[index]
index = (index + 1) % len(items)
if __name__ == "__main__":
colors = ["red", "gre…
Dict Comprehension to Map Keys to Lengths in Python
Build a dictionary that maps each word to its character count using a dictionary comprehension.
words = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "date", "elderberry"]
word_lengths = {word: len(word) for word in words}
print(word_lengths)
Drop n items then yield rest generator
A generator that skips the first n items of an iterable and then yields the remaining items one by one.
def drop(n, items):
"""Yield every item except the first n from items."""
it = iter(items)
for _ in range(n):
next(it, None) # skip first n items
yield from it
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
result = list(drop(2, numbers))
print(result)
Flatten a Nested List in Python (Recursive Generator)
Recursively flatten arbitrarily nested lists into a single-level list using both a function and a generator with `yield from`.
def flatten(nested_list):
"""Recursively flatten a nested list into a single-level list."""
result = []
for item in nested_list:
if isinstance(item, list):
result.extend(flatten(item))
else:
result.append(item)
return result
def flatten_generator(nested_list):
…
Generate Data with Python Comprehensions and Generators
Shows list, dict compregensions and generator expressions plus a Fibonacci generator to produce data lazily.
# Data generation helpers using comprehensions and generators
from itertools import islice
def fibonacci(limit):
"""Generate Fibonacci numbers up to a limit."""
a, b = 0, 1
while a <= limit:
yield a
a, b = b, a + b
def main():
# List comprehension: squares of even numbers
square…
Generate UUID4 Values with a Python Generator
This code defines a generator function that yields mock UUID4 values, allowing you to stream unique identifiers one at a time.
import uuid
def generate_uuids(count=5):
"""Generate a stream of mock UUID4 values."""
for _ in range(count):
yield uuid.uuid4()
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Generate and print 5 UUIDs
for uid in generate_uuids(5):
print(uid)
How to Build a Backpressure Generator Pause Producer Demo in Python
Demonstrates a producer–consumer pattern with a fixed-size buffer that pauses production when full, simulating backpressure.
import time
import collections
def producer(buffer, max_size, items):
"""Adds items to the buffer until full, then pauses."""
for item in items:
while len(buffer) >= max_size:
print(f"Buffer full ({len(buffer)}/{max_size}) — producer paused")
time.sleep(0.1)
buffer.appe…
How to Build a Sliding Window Generator in Python
Create a generator that yields fixed-size overlapping slices of a sequence, useful for efficient windowed iteration.
def sliding_window(sequence, size):
for i in range(len(sequence) - size + 1):
yield sequence[i:i + size]
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
n = 3
for window in sliding_window(data, n):
print(window)
How to Close a Generator and Handle GeneratorExit in Python
This Python code demonstrates how to explicitly close a generator using the close() method and handle the GeneratorExit exception through a finally block to run cleanup logic.
def countdown(n):
try:
while n > 0:
yield n
n -= 1
finally:
print(f"Generator closed after countdown completed")
if __name__ == "__main__":
gen = countdown(5)
print(next(gen))
print(next(gen))
gen.close()
print("Generator closed explicitly")
How to Compress a Generator with a Boolean Mask in Python
Filters items from a generator based on a parallel boolean mask, yielding only the items where the mask is True.
def compress(generator, mask):
for item, keep in zip(generator, mask):
if keep:
yield item
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
mask = [True, False, True, False, True]
result = list(compress(iter(data), mask))
print(result)
How to Create a Generator Context Manager in Python with contextlib
Create a custom context manager with the @contextlib.contextmanager decorator to manage resources using a generator function.
import contextlib
@contextlib.contextmanager
def temporary_directory():
"""Yield a string and clean up after the block exits."""
print("Creating temp directory...")
dir_name = "/tmp/example"
try:
yield dir_name
finally:
print(f"Removing {dir_name}...")
if __name__ == "__main__":
…
How to Create a Line-Numbered Generator with enumerate start in Python
This Python code defines a generator that yields lines prefixed with their index, using enumerate's start parameter to offset numbering.
def line_numbered_lines(lines, start=1):
for idx, line in enumerate(lines, start):
yield f"{idx:3} {line}"
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = ["first line", "second", "third"]
for numbered in line_numbered_lines(sample, start=10):
print(numbered)
How to Create a Pairwise Generator with zip and tee in Python
Build a memory-efficient generator that yields successive overlapping pairs from any iterable using zip and tee.
from itertools import tee
def pairwise(iterable):
"""Yield successive overlapping pairs from iterable."""
a, b = tee(iterable)
next(b, None)
return zip(a, b)
if __name__ == "__main__":
values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(list(pairwise(values)))
print(list(pairwise("hello")))
How to Create an Infinite Arithmetic Sequence Generator in Python
Build a memory-efficient generator that yields an infinite arithmetic progression and extract the first N values with list comprehension.
"""Count generator infinite arithmetic progression"""
def arithmetic_counter(start=0, step=1):
"""Generate an infinite arithmetic sequence."""
current = start
while True:
yield current
current += step
if __name__ == "__main__":
counter = arithmetic_counter(1, 3)
result = [next(c…
How to Filter Data with Predicates in Python
This helper filters a list with a predicate using a list comprehension, plus a lazy generator version that yields matches one by one.
def filter_data(data, predicate):
"""Return a list containing only items that pass the predicate."""
return [item for item in data if predicate(item)]
def filter_data_lazy(data, predicate):
"""Generator version: yields items that pass the predicate one by one."""
for item in data:
if predicat…
How to Generate Combinations with Replacement in Python
Generate all r-length combinations with repetition from a list using the standard library itertools.combinations_with_replacement function.
from itertools import combinations_with_replacement
items = ['A', 'B', 'C']
r = 2
combos = list(combinations_with_replacement(items, r))
for combo in combos:
print(combo)
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(f"Total combinations with replacement: {len(combos)}")
How to Generate Fibonacci Numbers in Python Without Recursion
Build an efficient infinite Fibonacci sequence using a generator function with O(1) memory and no recursion overhead.
def fib(n):
a, b = 0, 1
for _ in range(n):
yield a
a, b = b, a + b
if __name__ == "__main__":
count = 10
result = list(fib(count))
print(result)
How to Generate Permutations of Length r in Python
Generate all ordered arrangements of length r from a given list of elements using itertools.permutations.
from itertools import permutations
def generate_permutations(elements, r):
"""Generate all r-length permutations of the given elements."""
return list(permutations(elements, r))
if __name__ == "__main__":
elements = ['A', 'B', 'C']
r = 2
result = generate_permutations(elements, r)
print(f"Ele…
How to Generate Primes with a Generator in Python
Generate prime numbers up to a limit using the Sieve of Eratosthenes wrapped in a generator expression for lazy evaluation.
def prime_generator(limit):
sieve = [True] * (limit + 1)
sieve[0] = sieve[1] = False
for i in range(2, int(limit ** 0.5) + 1):
if sieve[i]:
for j in range(i * i, limit + 1, i):
sieve[j] = False
return (num for num, is_prime in enumerate(sieve) if is_prime)
if __n…
How to Generate a Collatz Sequence in Python
Generate the Collatz sequence for a given positive integer by repeatedly applying the 3n+1 rule until reaching 1.
def collatz_sequence(n):
if n <= 0:
raise ValueError("n must be a positive integer")
sequence = [n]
while n != 1:
if n % 2 == 0:
n = n // 2
else:
n = 3 * n + 1
sequence.append(n)
return sequence
if __name__ == "__main__":
start = 7
result…
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Comprehensions & generators — Python code examples
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