Lists & loops
Iterate, transform, and combine sequences with readable loop patterns.
How to Build a Frequency Map from a List in Python
This code builds a dictionary that maps each unique element in a list to its count using the Counter class from the collections module.
from collections import Counter
def build_frequency_map(values):
"""Return a dictionary mapping each unique value to its frequency."""
return dict(Counter(values))
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = ["apple", "banana", "apple", "cherry", "banana", "apple"]
freq_map = build_frequency_map(data)
prin…How to Build a Running Maximum List in Python
Compute a list where each element is the maximum of all numbers seen so far from an input list.
def running_maximum(numbers):
result = []
current_max = float('-inf')
for num in numbers:
if num > current_max:
current_max = num
result.append(current_max)
return result
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6]
max_list = running_maximum(number…How to Build a Text Processor with Lists and Loops in Python
A beginner-friendly Python script that analyzes text by counting sentences, words, and word lengths using lists and for loops, then prints the results.
def process_text(text):
"""Simple text processor for beginners using lists and loops."""
sentences = text.replace('!', '.').replace('?', '.').split('.')
words = text.split()
word_counts = []
for sentence in sentences:
sentence_word_count = len(sentence.split())
word_counts.appe…How to Calculate a Cumulative Sum in Python
Build a new list where each element equals the running total of all numbers up to that index in the original list.
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
cumulative_sum = []
running_total = 0
for num in numbers:
running_total += num
cumulative_sum.append(running_total)
print(cumulative_sum)How to Calculate the Average of a List of Numbers in Python
Compute the arithmetic mean of a numeric list using Python's built-in sum() and len() functions, returning 0.0 for an empty list.
def calculate_average(numbers):
if not numbers:
return 0.0
return sum(numbers) / len(numbers)
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample_numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
result = calculate_average(sample_numbers)
print(f"Average: {result}")How to Calculate the Sum of List Elements in Python
Iterates over a list with a for loop, accumulates each number into a total variable, and returns the sum of all elements.
def sum_list_elements(numbers):
"""Return the sum of all elements in a list."""
total = 0
for num in numbers:
total += num
return total
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
result = sum_list_elements(sample_list)
print(f"The sum of {sample_list} is {result}")How to Check if a List is Sorted in Descending Order in Python
This code defines a function that returns True if a given list is sorted in descending order, using a generator expression with all() to compare each adjacent pair.
def is_descending(lst):
"""Return True if list is sorted in descending order."""
return all(lst[i] >= lst[i + 1] for i in range(len(lst) - 1))
if __name__ == "__main__":
test_cases = [
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1],
[3, 3, 2, 1],
[1, 2, 3],
[10, 8, 9],
[]
]
for case in …How to Compute Percentile Value from Sorted List in Python
Compute any percentile value from a sorted list using linear interpolation between ranks.
def percentile(sorted_data, percentile_value):
"""Return the value below which `percentile_value`% of data falls."""
if not sorted_data:
raise ValueError("Cannot compute percentile of empty list")
if not 0 <= percentile_value <= 100:
raise ValueError("Percentile must be between 0 and 100")
…How to Compute Sliding Window Sum of Size k in Python
Compute the sum of every contiguous subarray of a fixed size k using an efficient O(n) sliding window technique.
def sliding_window_sum(nums, k):
"""Return a list of sums for each contiguous subarray of size k."""
if not nums or k <= 0 or k > len(nums):
return []
result = []
window_sum = sum(nums[:k])
result.append(window_sum)
for i in range(k, len(nums)):
window_sum += nums[i] -…How to Compute a Moving Average in Python
This code computes the moving average over a numeric list using an efficient sliding window sum, avoiding recomputation of each window.
def moving_average(data, window_size):
"""
Compute the moving average over a numeric list.
Args:
data: List of numeric values
window_size: Size of the sliding window (positive integer)
Returns:
List of moving averages, each representing the mean of a window
"""
…How to Convert Data Types in Python Lists
Convert a mixed list of values to integers, floats, or strings based on their content, with graceful fallback for unparseable strings.
def convert_data(data):
"""Convert a mixed list of values to strings, ints, and floats."""
result = []
for item in data:
if isinstance(item, (int, float)):
result.append(str(item))
elif isinstance(item, str):
try:
if '.' in item:
r…How to Count Occurrences of a Value in a Python List
Counts how many times a specific value appears in a list using a simple loop and a counter variable.
def count_occurrences(data, target):
count = 0
for item in data:
if item == target:
count += 1
return count
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, 5, 3, 5]
target_value = 5
result = count_occurrences(numbers, target_value)
print(f"The value {targ…How to Count, Double, and Find Max in a Python List
Three beginner-friendly Python functions that count even numbers, double each value, and find the maximum in a list using simple loops.
def count_even_numbers(numbers):
"""Return the count of even numbers in a list."""
count = 0
for num in numbers:
if num % 2 == 0:
count += 1
return count
def double_values(numbers):
"""Return a new list with each value doubled."""
doubled = []
for num in numbers:
…How to Cycle Through a List Infinitely with itertools
This code uses itertools.cycle to create an infinite iterator over a list and returns the first n items from that cycle.
from itertools import cycle
def demonstrate_cycle(items, cycles=3):
"""
Cycle through a list infinitely using itertools.cycle.
Returns the first n items from the infinite cycle.
"""
cycled = cycle(items)
result = [next(cycled) for _ in range(len(items) * cycles)]
return result
if __name__…How to Filter Empty Strings in Python
Remove empty and whitespace-only strings from a list using a list comprehension with the strip() method.
def filter_empty_strings(strings):
"""
Filter out empty strings (including whitespace-only strings)
from a list of strings.
"""
return [s for s in strings if s.strip()]
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample_list = ["hello", "", "world", " ", "python", " ", "!"]
filtered = filter_empty_strin…How to Filter Even Numbers and Square Them in Python
Create two beginner-friendly helper functions that filter even numbers and compute squares of a number list using loops, then print the results along with the sum and average.
def get_even_numbers(numbers):
evens = []
for num in numbers:
if num % 2 == 0:
evens.append(num)
return evens
def get_squares(numbers):
squares = []
for num in numbers:
squares.append(num ** 2)
return squares
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
even_numbers …How to Filter None Values from a Mixed List in Python
Filter None values from a mixed Python list using a list comprehension with the `is not None` condition.
mixed_list = [1, None, "hello", None, 3.14, None, [1, 2], None]
filtered_list = [item for item in mixed_list if item is not None]
print(f"Original list: {mixed_list}")
print(f"Filtered list: {filtered_list}")
print(f"Original length: {len(mixed_list)}, Filtered length: {len(filtered_list)}")How to Filter a List in Python with a Loop
Filter a list of numbers by a threshold using a for loop and append results to a new list, then print the filtered values and count.
ages = [34, 12, 45, 8, 67, 21, 18, 55, 3]
threshold = 18
adults = []
for age in ages:
if age >= threshold:
adults.append(age)
print("All ages:", ages)
print("Adults (18+):", adults)
print("Count of adults:", len(adults))How to Find Local Maxima in a Python List
Return the indices of all local maxima in a numeric list, where a peak is an element greater than both its immediate neighbors.
def find_peaks(numbers):
"""
Return the indices of local maxima in a numeric list.
A local maximum is an element greater than both its neighbors.
"""
if len(numbers) < 3:
return []
peaks = []
for i in range(1, len(numbers) - 1):
if numbers[i] > numbers[i - 1] and number…How to Find the Maximum Value in a Python List
This code defines a function that finds the largest number in a list by iterating through it, returning None for an empty list, and demonstrates it on a sample list.
def find_max(numbers):
if not numbers:
return None
max_value = numbers[0]
for num in numbers[1:]:
if num > max_value:
max_value = num
return max_value
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample_list = [3, 7, 2, 9, 1, 9]
result = find_max(sample_list)
print(f"Maximum valu…How to Find the Median of a List in Python
Compute the median of an unsorted numeric list using the statistics module in Python.
import statistics
def median_of_list(numbers):
return statistics.median(numbers)
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = [7, 3, 1, 4, 9, 2, 8]
print(median_of_list(sample))How to Find the Mode in a Python List
Find the most frequent value (mode) in a Python list using the collections.Counter class, handling empty lists and ties.
from collections import Counter
def find_mode(numbers):
if not numbers:
return None
counts = Counter(numbers)
max_count = max(counts.values())
modes = [num for num, count in counts.items() if count == max_count]
return modes[0] if len(modes) == 1 else modes
if __name__ == "__main__":
…How to Find the Third Smallest Element in a Python List
Find the third smallest distinct value in a Python list by sorting unique elements and returning the third index.
def find_third_smallest(numbers):
if len(numbers) < 3:
return None
unique_sorted = sorted(set(numbers))
if len(unique_sorted) < 3:
return None
return unique_sorted[2]
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = [5, 2, 8, 2, 9, 1, 7, 3]
result = find_third_smallest(sampl…How to Flatten One Level of a Nested List in Python
Flattens exactly one level of a nested list by extending the output with each inner list and appending non-list items.
def flatten_one_level(nested_list):
"""Flatten one level of a nested list."""
flattened = []
for item in nested_list:
if isinstance(item, list):
flattened.extend(item)
else:
flattened.append(item)
return flattened
if __name__ == "__main__":
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Lists & loops — Python code examples
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