[Resolve] IndexError: List Assignment Index Out of Range

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When does the IndexError: list assignment index out of range appear?

Python throws an IndexError if you try to assign a value to a list index that doesn’t exist, yet. For example, if you execute the expression list[1] = 10 on an empty list, Python throws the IndexError. Simply resolve it by adding elements to your list until the index actually exists.

Here’s the minimal example that throws the IndexError:

lst = []
lst[1] = 10

If you run this code, you’ll see that Python throws an IndexError:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\xcent\Desktop\code.py", line 2, in <module>
    lst[1] = 10
IndexError: list assignment index out of range

You can resolve it by adding two “dummy” elements to the list so that the index 1 actually exists in the list:

lst = [None, None]
lst[1] = 10
print(lst)

Now, Python will print the expected output:

[None, 10]

Try to fix the IndexError in the following interactive code shell:

Exercise: Can you fix this code?

So what are some other occurrences of the IndexError?

IndexError in For Loop

Frequently, the IndexError happens if you use a for loop to modify some list elements like here:

# WRONG CODE:
lst = []
for i in range(10):
    lst[i] = i
print(lst)

Again, the result is an IndexError:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\xcent\Desktop\code.py", line 4, in <module>
    lst[i] = i
IndexError: list assignment index out of range

You modify a list element at index i that doesn’t exist in the list. Instead, create the list using the list(range(10)) list constructor.

# CORRECT CODE:
lst = list(range(10))
print(lst)
# [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Where to Go From Here?

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