Python One Line X

This is a running document in which I’ll answer all questions regarding the single line of Python code. If you want to become a one-liner wizard, check out my book “Python One-Liners”! πŸ™‚ This document contains many interactive code shells and videos to help you with your understanding. However, it’s pretty slow because of all … Read more

The Most Pythonic Way to Compare Two Lists in Python

Problem: Given are two lists l1 and l2. You want to perform either of the following: 1. Boolean Comparison: Compare the lists element-wise and return True if your comparison metric returns True for all pairs of elements, and otherwise False. 2. Difference: Find the difference of elements in the first list but not in the … Read more

The Most Pythonic Way to Check If a List Contains an Element

The standard way of checking if an element exists in a list is to use the in keyword. For example, ‘Alice’ in [1, ‘Alice’, 3] will return True while the same returns False for ‘Bob’. If you need to check more complicated conditions, use the any(condition(x) for x in list) function with a generator expression. … Read more

string.join(list) vs list.join(string) | Why Python’s Creators Chose The Former

If you’re like me, you may have asked yourself the following question: Why is it string.join(list) instead of list.join(string) in Python? ? The join method works with any iterable, not just with lists. Therefore, you’d have to implement it in hundreds of classes instead of just one (in the string class). Additionally, join() works only … Read more

How to Use Python’s Join() on a List of Objects (Not Strings)?

The most Pythonic way to concatenate a list of objects is the expression ”.join(str(x) for x in lst) that converts each object to a string using the built-in str(…) function in a generator expression. You can concatenate the resulting list of strings using the join() method on the empty string as a delimiter. The result … Read more

How to Join Specific List Elements in Python?

To join specific list elements (e.g., with indices 0, 2, and 4) and return the joined string that’s the concatenation of all those, use the expression ”.join([lst[i] for i in [0, 2, 4]]). The list comprehension statement creates a list consisting of elements lst[0], lst[2], and lst[4]. The ”.join() method concatenates those elements using the … Read more

Python Join List Range: A Helpful Guide

If the search phrase “Python Join List Range” brought you here, you’re having most likely one of the following problems: You don’t know how to concatenate two range() iterables, or You want to use .join() to create a string from a range() iterable—but it doesn’t work. In any case, by reading this article, I hope … Read more

The Most Pythonic Way to Join a List in Reverse Order

The most efficient method to join a list of Python strings in reverse order is to use the Python code ”.join(l[::-1]). First, reverse the list l using slicing with a negative step size l[::-1]. Second, glue together the strings in the list using the join(…) method on the empty string ”. Problem: Given a list … Read more

Python Join List of Bytes (and What’s a Python Byte Anyway?)

When teaching the Finxter Python students, I’m often shocked how even intermediate-level coders do not understand the very basic foundations of computer science. In CS, there’s almost nothing as fundamental as a simple, plain byte. (You know, that sequence of 0s and 1s called bits). This tutorial aims to clarify some misconceptions and questions regarding … Read more