If you’re short on time, here’s my quick take on how to convert a Python tuple to a Python list?
The most Pythonic way to convert a tuple to a list in Python is to call the built-in list() function and pass the tuple as a function argument to the function. The function list() takes any sequence type such as a tuple and converts them to lists. The return value of the function is the new list generated.
t = (1, 2, 3) l = list(t) print(l) # [1, 2, 3]
There are some details to this approach—and alternative ways as well. Feel free to keep reading, watch the article video, and improve your Python skills in the process! 🙂
Let’s get started!
Problem Formulation + Examples
Problem: Given a Python tuple with n elements. How to convert it to a list with the same n elements?
Examples:
- Convert tuple
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)to list[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. - Convert tuple
('Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann')to list['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']. - Convert tuple
(1,)to list[1].
Note Tuple: Tuples are similar to lists—with the difference that you cannot change the tuple values (tuples are immutable) and you use parentheses (...) rather than square brackets [...].
Solution Overview
This article shows five solutions to this problem of converting a tuple t to a new list:
list(t)for el in t: new_list.append(el)[*t][x for x in t]
Method 1: list()
Solution: Use the built-in Python list() function to convert a list into a tuple. You don’t need to import any external library.
Code: The following code converts the three given tuples into lists.
tuple_1 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print(list(tuple_1))
# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
tuple_2 = ('Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann')
print(list(tuple_2))
# ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']
tuple_3 = (1,)
print(list(tuple_3))
# [1]
Explanation: You can see that converting a tuple with one element leads to a list with one element. The list() function is the easiest way to convert a tuple into a list. Note that the values in the tuple are not copied—only a new reference to the same element is created:
The graphic also shows how to convert a tuple back to a list by using the tuple() function (that’s also a Python built-in function). Thus, calling list(tuple(lst)) on a list lst will result in a new list with the same elements.
Related articles:
Try to execute this code with the interactive Python tutor:
Method 2: Loop Iteration + append()
To convert a tuple to a list, start with an empty list and fill in one tuple element at a time using the append() method and pass the tuple element into the function within a Python loop body iterating over all tuple elements.
Here’s the code to do this:
def tuple_to_list(t):
new_list = []
for element in t:
new_list.append(element)
return new_list
tuple_1 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_1))
# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
tuple_2 = ('Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann')
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_2))
# ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']
tuple_3 = (1,)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_3))
# [1]
You can learn more about the append() method in my detailed guide and the accompanying video:
Method 3: Unpacking Asterisk Operator
To convert a tuple to a list, you can use the unpacking asterisk operator * from Python version 3.5 onwards. For example, the expression [*t] creates a new list with the square bracket notation and unpacks all elements of the tuple t into the list.
Here’s the code to accomplish this:
def tuple_to_list(t):
return [*t]
tuple_1 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_1))
# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
tuple_2 = ('Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann')
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_2))
# ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']
tuple_3 = (1,)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_3))
# [1]
The expression [*t] is the most concise one-liner to convert a tuple t to a list!
👉 Recommended: Python Unpacking [Ultimate Guide]
Method 4: List Comprehension
The list comprehension statement [x for x in t] converts a Python tuple t into a new list by iterating over all elements x in the tuple t and placing them unchanged in the list using the square bracket notation [].
Here’s the code:
def tuple_to_list(t):
return [x for x in t]
tuple_1 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_1))
# [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
tuple_2 = ('Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann')
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_2))
# ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']
tuple_3 = (1,)
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_3))
# [1]
If you need a quick refresher on list comprehension, feel free to check out my detailed guide on the Finxter blog.
Method 5: Convert Tuple of Tuples to List of Lists
If you have a tuple of tuples such as ((1, 2, 3), (4, 5, 6)) you can convert it to a list of lists such as [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]] by combining list comprehension with the list() function like so:
[list(x) for x in t]Here’s a simple code example:
def tuple_to_list(t):
return [list(x) for x in t]
tuple_1 = ((1, 2, 3),
(4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9),
('Alice', 'Bob', 'Carl'))
print(tuple_to_list(tuple_1))
# [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Carl']]👉 Recommended: How to Convert Tuple of Tuples to List of Lists in Python?
Summary and My Recommendation
The most Pythonic way to convert a tuple to a list is using the built-in list() function passing the tuple into it. The return value is a list with references (not copies!) to the original elements in the tuple.
my_tuple = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) my_list = list(my_tuple) print(my_list)
In this example, we create a tuple called my_tuple with five values. We then use the list() function to convert the tuple to a list and assign the result to a new variable called my_list. Finally, we print the list to the console using the print() function.
The output of this code will be:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
As you can see, the tuple has been converted to a list with the same values.
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Where to Go From Here?
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