Lists & loops
Iterate, transform, and combine sequences with readable loop patterns.
Check if List is Sorted Ascending in Python
Verify that a list is sorted in ascending order using the all() function and a generator expression.
def is_sorted_ascending(lst):
return all(lst[i] <= lst[i + 1] for i in range(len(lst) - 1))
if __name__ == "__main__":
test_lists = [
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 3, 2, 4, 5],
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1],
[1, 1, 2, 2, 3],
[10],
[]
]
for lst in test_lists:
print(f"{l…Compare Two Lists in Python: Common, Only in First, Only in Second
A beginner-friendly helper that loops over two lists and returns items common to both, items only in the first list, and items only in the second list.
def compare_lists(list1, list2):
common = []
only_in_first = []
only_in_second = []
for item in list1:
if item in list2:
common.append(item)
else:
only_in_first.append(item)
for item in list2:
if item not in list1:
only_in_second…Convert a List of Integers to a Comma-Separated String in Python
Convert a list of integers into a single comma-separated string using a generator expression and str.join.
def ints_to_comma_string(numbers):
return ",".join(str(num) for num in numbers)
if __name__ == "__main__":
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
result = ints_to_comma_string(numbers)
print(result)Enumerate a Python List with a Custom Start Index
Iterate over a list with an index that starts at a custom value (like 5) using Python's built-in enumerate() function with the start parameter.
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "date"]
for index, fruit in enumerate(fruits, start=5):
print(f"{index}: {fruit}")Extract Data by Type from a List in Python: Numbers and Strings
Loop through a mixed list to filter out numeric and string values into separate lists.
def extract_numbers(items):
"""Extract all numeric values from a mixed list."""
numbers = []
for item in items:
if isinstance(item, (int, float)) and not isinstance(item, bool):
numbers.append(item)
return numbers
def extract_strings(items):
"""Extract all string values from a…Find All Occurrences of an Item in a Python List
Loop through a list with enumerate() to collect the index of every match for a target value.
def find_all(data, target):
"""Return indices of every occurrence of target in a list."""
indices = []
for index, item in enumerate(data):
if item == target:
indices.append(index)
return indices
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = [10, 20, 30, 20, 40, 20, 50]
target_value …Find Duplicate Elements in a Python List
Identifies and returns duplicate elements from a Python list using sets for efficient membership tests.
def find_duplicates(lst):
seen = set()
duplicates = set()
for item in lst:
if item in seen:
duplicates.add(item)
else:
seen.add(item)
return list(duplicates)
if __name__ == "__main__":
sample = [1, 2, 3, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3]
print(find_duplicates(sample))Find Local Minima (Valleys) in a Numeric List in Python
This code finds indices of all local minima (valleys) in a numeric list, including edge cases, using a simple loop that compares each element with its neighbors.
def find_local_minima(numbers):
"""Find indices of local minima (valleys) in a numeric list.
A value is a local minimum if it's less than or equal to its neighbors.
Edge elements are considered minima if they're less than or equal to their single neighbor.
"""
if not numbers:
return []…Find Maximum Value in a List of Numbers in Python
Iterate through a list with a for loop to manually find and return the maximum numeric value.
def find_max(numbers):
"""Return the maximum value in a list of 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, 15, 9, 11]
…Find Minimum Value in a List in Python
This code defines a function that finds and returns the minimum value in a list of numbers, handling empty lists gracefully by returning None.
def find_minimum(numbers):
"""
Find and return the minimum value in a list of numbers.
Args:
numbers: List of numeric values
Returns:
The minimum value, or None if the list is empty
"""
if not numbers:
return None
min_value = numbers[0]
for num in n…Format Lists of Tuples into Numbered Lines in Python
This code loops through a list of (name, grade) tuples and formats each into a numbered line using enumerate and f-strings.
def format_students(students):
formatted = []
for i, student in enumerate(students, start=1):
name, grade = student
formatted.append(f"{i}. {name}: {grade}")
return "\n".join(formatted)
if __name__ == "__main__":
students = [
("Alice", 92),
("Bob", 85),
("Charl…Generate Data Helper for Beginners in Python
Define two functions that create a random list of integers and then compute basic summary statistics like count, total, average, maximum, and minimum using simple loops.
from random import randint
def build_dataset(size: int, max_val: int) -> list[int]:
data = []
for _ in range(size):
data.append(randint(1, max_val))
return data
def summarize(data: list[int]) -> dict[str, float]:
total = 0
maximum = data[0]
minimum = data[0]
for value in data:
…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…Browse by section
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Lists & loops — Python code examples
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