It seems so “dirty” emptying a list in this way:

while len(alist) > 0 : alist.pop()

Does a clear way exist to do that?

This actually removes the contents from the list, but doesn’t replace the old label with a new empty list:

del lst[:]

Here’s an example:

lst1 = [1, 2, 3]
lst2 = lst1
del lst1[:]
print(lst2)

For the sake of completeness, the slice assignment has the same effect:

lst[:] = []

It can also be used to shrink a part of the list while replacing a part at the same time (but that is out of the scope of the question).

Note that doing lst = [] does not empty the list, just creates a new object and binds it to the variable lst, but the old list will still have the same elements, and effect will be apparent if it had other variable bindings.

If you’re running Python 3.3 or better, you can use the clear() method of list, which is parallel to clear() of dict, set, deque and other mutable container types:

alist.clear()  # removes all items from alist (equivalent to del alist[:])

As per the linked documentation page, the same can also be achieved with alist *= 0.

To sum up, there are four equivalent ways to clear a list in-place (quite contrary to the Zen of Python!):

1. alist.clear() # Python 3.3+
2. del alist[:]
3. alist[:] = []
4. alist *= 0

You could try:

alist[:] = []

Which means: Splice in the list [] (0 elements) at the location [:] (all indexes from start to finish)

The [:] is the slice operator. See this question for more information.

it turns out that with python 2.5.2, del l[:] is slightly slower than l[:] = [] by 1.1 usec.

$ python -mtimeit "l=list(range(1000))" "b=l[:];del b[:]"
10000 loops, best of 3: 29.8 usec per loop
$ python -mtimeit "l=list(range(1000))" "b=l[:];b[:] = []"
10000 loops, best of 3: 28.7 usec per loop
$ python -V
Python 2.5.2

lst *= 0

has the same effect as

lst[:] = []

It’s a little simpler and maybe easier to remember. Other than that there’s not much to say

The efficiency seems to be about the same

list = []

will reset list to an empty list.

Note that you generally should not shadow reserved function names, such as list, which is the constructor for a list object — you could use lst or list_ instead, for instance.

Another simple code you could use (depending on your situation) is:

index=len(list)-1

while index>=0:
    del list[index]
    index-=1

You have to start index at the length of the list and go backwards versus index at 0, forwards because that would end you up with index equal to the length of the list with it only being cut in half.

Also, be sure that the while line has a “greater than or equal to” sign. Omitting it will leave you with list[0] remaining.

How would I create a list with values between two values I put in? For example, the following list is generated for values from 11 to 16:

list = [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]

Use range. In Python 2.x it returns a list so all you need is:

>>> range(11, 17)
[11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]

In Python 3.x range is a iterator. So, you need to convert it to a list:

>>> list(range(11, 17))
[11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]

Note: The second number is exclusive. So, here it needs to be 16+1 = 17

EDIT:

To respond to the question about incrementing by 0.5, the easiest option would probably be to use numpy’s arange() and .tolist():

>>> import numpy as np
>>> np.arange(11, 17, 0.5).tolist()

[11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, 13.0, 13.5,
 14.0, 14.5, 15.0, 15.5, 16.0, 16.5]

You seem to be looking for range():

>>> x1=11
>>> x2=16
>>> range(x1, x2+1)
[11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]
>>> list1 = range(x1, x2+1)
>>> list1
[11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]

For incrementing by 0.5 instead of 1, say:

>>> list2 = [x*0.5 for x in range(2*x1, 2*x2+1)]
>>> list2
[11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, 13.0, 13.5, 14.0, 14.5, 15.0, 15.5, 16.0]

Try:

range(x1,x2+1)  

That is a list in Python 2.x and behaves mostly like a list in Python 3.x. If you are running Python 3 and need a list that you can modify, then use:

list(range(x1,x2+1))

If you are looking for range like function which works for float type, then here is a very good article.

def frange(start, stop, step=1.0):
    ''' "range()" like function which accept float type''' 
    i = start
    while i < stop:
        yield i
        i += step
# Generate one element at a time.
# Preferred when you don't need all generated elements at the same time. 
# This will save memory.
for i in frange(1.0, 2.0, 0.5):
    print i   # Use generated element.
# Generate all elements at once.
# Preferred when generated list ought to be small.
print list(frange(1.0, 10.0, 0.5))    

Output:

1.0
1.5
[1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5]

Use list comprehension in python. Since you want 16 in the list too.. Use x2+1. Range function excludes the higher limit in the function.

list=[x for x in range(x1,x2+1)]

assuming you want to have a range between x to y

range(x,y+1)

>>> range(11,17)
[11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]
>>>

use list for 3.x support

In python you can do this very eaisly

start=0
end=10
arr=list(range(start,end+1))
output: arr=[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]

or you can create a recursive function that returns an array upto a given number:

ar=[]
def diff(start,end):
    if start==end:
        d.append(end)
        return ar
    else:
        ar.append(end)
        return diff(start-1,end) 

output: ar=[10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0]

The most elegant way to do this is by using the range function however if you want to re-create this logic you can do something like this :

def custom_range(*args):
    s = slice(*args)
    start, stop, step = s.start, s.stop, s.step
    if 0 == step:
        raise ValueError("range() arg 3 must not be zero")
    i = start
    while i < stop if step > 0 else i > stop:
        yield i
        i += step

>>> [x for x in custom_range(10, 3, -1)]

This produces the output:

[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4]

As expressed before by @Jared, the best way is to use the range or numpy.arrange however I find the code interesting to be shared.

Every answer above assumes range is of positive numbers only. Here is the solution to return list of consecutive numbers where arguments can be any (positive or negative), with the possibility to set optional step value (default = 1).

def any_number_range(a,b,s=1):
""" Generate consecutive values list between two numbers with optional step (default=1)."""
if (a == b):
    return a
else:
    mx = max(a,b)
    mn = min(a,b)
    result = []
    # inclusive upper limit. If not needed, delete '+1' in the line below
    while(mn < mx + 1):
        # if step is positive we go from min to max
        if s > 0:
            result.append(mn)
            mn += s
        # if step is negative we go from max to min
        if s < 0:
            result.append(mx)
            mx += s
    return result

For instance, standard command list(range(1,-3)) returns empty list [], while this function will return [-3,-2,-1,0,1]

Updated: now step may be negative. Thanks @Michael for his comment.

I want to create an empty list (or whatever is the best way) that can hold 10 elements.

After that I want to assign values in that list, for example this is supposed to display 0 to 9:

s1 = list();
for i in range(0,9):
   s1[i] = i

print  s1

But when I run this code, it generates an error or in another case it just displays [] (empty).

Can someone explain why?

You cannot assign to a list like lst[i] = something, unless the list already is initialized with at least i+1 elements. You need to use append to add elements to the end of the list. lst.append(something).

(You could use the assignment notation if you were using a dictionary).

Creating an empty list:

>>> l = [None] * 10
>>> l
[None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None]

Assigning a value to an existing element of the above list:

>>> l[1] = 5
>>> l
[None, 5, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None]

Keep in mind that something like l[15] = 5 would still fail, as our list has only 10 elements.

range(x) creates a list from [0, 1, 2, … x-1]

# 2.X only. Use list(range(10)) in 3.X.
>>> l = range(10)
>>> l
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Using a function to create a list:

>>> def display():
...     s1 = []
...     for i in range(9): # This is just to tell you how to create a list.
...         s1.append(i)
...     return s1
... 
>>> print display()
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

List comprehension (Using the squares because for range you don’t need to do all this, you can just return range(0,9) ):

>>> def display():
...     return [x**2 for x in range(9)]
... 
>>> print display()
[0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64]

Try this instead:

lst = [None] * 10

The above will create a list of size 10, where each position is initialized to None. After that, you can add elements to it:

lst = [None] * 10
for i in range(10):
    lst[i] = i

Admittedly, that’s not the Pythonic way to do things. Better do this:

lst = []
for i in range(10):
    lst.append(i)

Or even simpler, in Python 2.x you can do this to initialize a list with values from 0 to 9:

lst = range(10)

And in Python 3.x:

lst = list(range(10))

varunl’s currently accepted answer

 >>> l = [None] * 10
 >>> l
 [None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None]

Works well for non-reference types like numbers. Unfortunately if you want to create a list-of-lists you will run into referencing errors. Example in Python 2.7.6:

>>> a = [[]]*10
>>> a
[[], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []]
>>> a[0].append(0)
>>> a
[[0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0]]
>>> 

As you can see, each element is pointing to the same list object. To get around this, you can create a method that will initialize each position to a different object reference.

def init_list_of_objects(size):
    list_of_objects = list()
    for i in range(0,size):
        list_of_objects.append( list() ) #different object reference each time
    return list_of_objects


>>> a = init_list_of_objects(10)
>>> a
[[], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []]
>>> a[0].append(0)
>>> a
[[0], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], []]
>>> 

There is likely a default, built-in python way of doing this (instead of writing a function), but I’m not sure what it is. Would be happy to be corrected!

Edit: It’s [ [] for _ in range(10)]

Example :

>>> [ [random.random() for _ in range(2) ] for _ in range(5)]
>>> [[0.7528051908943816, 0.4325669600055032], [0.510983236521753, 0.7789949902294716], [0.09475179523690558, 0.30216475640534635], [0.3996890132468158, 0.6374322093017013], [0.3374204010027543, 0.4514925173253973]]

You can .append(element) to the list, e.g.: s1.append(i). What you are currently trying to do is access an element (s1[i]) that does not exist.

There are two “quick” methods:

x = length_of_your_list
a = [None]*x
# or
a = [None for _ in xrange(x)]

It appears that [None]*x is faster:

>>> from timeit import timeit
>>> timeit("[None]*100",number=10000)
0.023542165756225586
>>> timeit("[None for _ in xrange(100)]",number=10000)
0.07616496086120605

But if you are ok with a range (e.g. [0,1,2,3,...,x-1]), then range(x) might be fastest:

>>> timeit("range(100)",number=10000)
0.012513160705566406

I’m surprised nobody suggest this simple approach to creating a list of empty lists. This is an old thread, but just adding this for completeness. This will create a list of 10 empty lists

x = [[] for i in range(10)]

(This was written based on the original version of the question.)

I want to create a empty list (or whatever is the best way) can hold 10 elements.

All lists can hold as many elements as you like, subject only to the limit of available memory. The only “size” of a list that matters is the number of elements currently in it.

but when I run it, the result is []

print display s1 is not valid syntax; based on your description of what you’re seeing, I assume you meant display(s1) and then print s1. For that to run, you must have previously defined a global s1 to pass into the function.

Calling display does not modify the list you pass in, as written. Your code says “s1 is a name for whatever thing was passed in to the function; ok, now the first thing we’ll do is forget about that thing completely, and let s1 start referring instead to a newly created list. Now we’ll modify that list“. This has no effect on the value you passed in.

There is no reason to pass in a value here. (There is no real reason to create a function, either, but that’s beside the point.) You want to “create” something, so that is the output of your function. No information is required to create the thing you describe, so don’t pass any information in. To get information out, return it.

That would give you something like:

def display():
    s1 = list();
    for i in range(0, 9):
        s1[i] = i
    return s1

The next problem you will note is that your list will actually have only 9 elements, because the end point is skipped by the range function. (As side notes, [] works just as well as list(), the semicolon is unnecessary, s1 is a poor name for the variable, and only one parameter is needed for range if you’re starting from 0.) So then you end up with

def create_list():
    result = list()
    for i in range(10):
        result[i] = i
    return result

However, this is still missing the mark; range is not some magical keyword that’s part of the language the way for and def are, but instead it’s a function. And guess what that function returns? That’s right – a list of those integers. So the entire function collapses to

def create_list():
    return range(10)

and now you see why we don’t need to write a function ourselves at all; range is already the function we’re looking for. Although, again, there is no need or reason to “pre-size” the list.

I’m a bit surprised that the easiest way to create an initialised list is not in any of these answers. Just use a generator in the list function:

list(range(9))

One simple way to create a 2D matrix of size n using nested list comprehensions:

m = [[None for _ in range(n)] for _ in range(n)]

Here’s my code for 2D list in python which would read no. of rows from the input :

empty = []
row = int(input())

for i in range(row):
    temp = list(map(int, input().split()))
    empty.append(temp)

for i in empty:
    for j in i:
        print(j, end=' ')
    print('')

I came across this SO question while searching for a similar problem. I had to build a 2D array and then replace some elements of each list (in 2D array) with elements from a dict. I then came across this SO question which helped me, maybe this will help other beginners to get around. The key trick was to initialize the 2D array as an numpy array and then using array[i,j] instead of array[i][j].

For reference this is the piece of code where I had to use this :

nd_array = []
for i in range(30):
    nd_array.append(np.zeros(shape = (32,1)))
new_array = []
for i in range(len(lines)):
    new_array.append(nd_array)
new_array = np.asarray(new_array)
for i in range(len(lines)):
    splits = lines[i].split(' ')
    for j in range(len(splits)):
        #print(new_array[i][j])
        new_array[i,j] = final_embeddings[dictionary[str(splits[j])]-1].reshape(32,1)

Now I know we can use list comprehension but for simplicity sake I am using a nested for loop. Hope this helps others who come across this post.

Make it more reusable as a function.

def createEmptyList(length,fill=None):
    '''
    return a (empty) list of a given length
    Example:
        print createEmptyList(3,-1)
        >> [-1, -1, -1]
        print createEmptyList(4)
        >> [None, None, None, None]
    '''
    return [fill] * length

s1 = []
for i in range(11):
   s1.append(i)

print s1

To create a list, just use these brackets: “[]”

To add something to a list, use list.append()

This code generates an array that contains 10 random numbers.

import random
numrand=[]
for i in range(0,10):
   a = random.randint(1,50)
   numrand.append(a)
   print(a,i)
print(numrand)