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Exclude an element in a list [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Slicing out a specific from a list
(2 answers)
Index all *except* one item in python
(11 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
Is it possible to use slice but on a specific element on a list? For example a = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] I want to make a for loop that prints out the whole list except the second element.
I want to make something like this:
for i in a[something_slice]:
print(i)
Is this possible?

For excluding just one element, the 2 slice lst[:i] + lst[i + 1:] approach proposed by #Applet123 is probably the fastest (Or perhaps a excluded = lst.pop(1) to extract the excluded element and for x in lst: print(x) for printing all the others; then lst.insert(1,excluded) to put the excluded element back on the list. See data structures docs for details).
If you just want to filter out certain indexes, instead of a for loop I recommend you use a more pythonic (and intuitive) approach based on list comprehensions and enumerate:
myList = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
excludedIndices = [1]
myFilteredList = [x for i, x in enumerate(myList) if i not in excludedIndices]
print (myFilteredList)
# output:
# [1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
# or, to actually print each element individually:
for x in myFilteredList:
print (x)
# which can also work as a 2-liner with inline filtering:
for i, x in enumerate(myList):
if i not in excludedIndices: print(x)
Also check out python usage of filter and map builtin functions, which may be overkill for this purpose but still offer a general and more powerful solution for this kind of processing:
# filters an enumerated element
def myFilter(element):
return element[0] not in excludedIndices
# maps an enumerated element to a function
def myMap(element):
print(element[1])
# runs myMap function for each enumerated element on the list filtered by myFilter
for x in map(myMap,filter(myFilter,enumerate(myList))): pass
Which you can also turn into a one-liner using lambda expressions:
for x in map(lambda x: print(x[1]),filter(lambda x: x[0] not in excludedIndices,enumerate(myList))): pass

you can do it without slicing, using enumerate()
index_to_skip=1
for idx,item in enumerate(a):
if idx!=index_to_skip:
print(item)

If you actually want to slice the list, you can use 2 slices to slice around it:
def exclude(lst, i):
return lst[:i] + lst[i + 1:]
exclude([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 1) # [1, 3, 4, 5]
If you just want to loop through it, you could alternatively just skip when the index reaches the value you want to skip:
for i, v in enumerate(a):
if i == 1:
continue
print(v)

Iterating over 2 lists at once and comparing the elements

This is just a small part of my homework assignment. What im trying to do is iterate through list1 and iterate backwards through list2 and determine if list2 is a reversed version of list1. Both lists are equal length.
example: list1 = [1,2,3,4] and list2 = [4,3,2,1]. list2 is a reversed version of list1. You could also have list1 = [1,2,1] and list2 = [1,2,1] then they would be the same list and also reversed lists.
Im not asking for exact code, im just not sure how i would code this. Would i run 2 loops? Any tips are appreciated. Just looking for a basic structure/algorithm.
edit: we are not allowed to use any auxiliary lists etc.

You can just iterate backwards on the second list, and keep a counter of items from the start of the first list. If items match, break out of the loop, otherwise keep going.
Here's what it can look like:
def is_reversed(l1, l2):
first = 0
for i in range(len(l2)-1, -1, -1):
if l2[i] != l1[first]:
return False
first += 1
return True
Which Outputs:
>>> is_reversed([1,2,3,4], [4,3,2,1])
True
>>> is_reversed([1,2,3,4], [4,3,2,2])
False
Although it would be easier to just use builtin functions to do this shown in the comments.

The idea here is that whenever you have an element list1[i], you want to compare it to the element list2[-i-1]. As required, the following code creates no auxiliary list in the process.
list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [3, 2, 1]
are_reversed = True
for i in range(len(list1)):
if list1[i] != list2[-i - 1]:
are_reversed = False
break
I want to point out that the built-in range does not create a new list in Python3, but a range object instead. Although, if you really want to stay away from those as well you can modify the code to use a while-loop.
You can also make this more compact by taking advantage of the built-in function all. The following line instantiate an iterator, so this solution does not create an auxiliary list either.
are_reversed = all(list1[i] == list2[-i - 1] for i in range(len(list2))) # True

If you want to get the N'th value of each list you can do a for loop with
if (len(list1) <= len(list2):
for x in range(0, len(list1):
if (list1[x] == list2[x]):
#Do something
else:
for x in range(0, len(list2):
if (list1[x] == list2[x]):
#Do something
If you want to check if each value of a list with every value of another list you can nestle a for loop
for i in list1:
for j in list2:
if (list1[i] == list2[j]):
//Do something
EDIT: Changed code to Python

Creating a function that removes duplicates in list

I'm trying to manually make a function that removes duplicates from a list. I know there is a Python function that does something similar (set()), but I want to create my own. This is what I have:
def remove(lst):
for i in range(len(lst)):
aux = lst[0:i] + lst[i+1:len(lst)]
if lst[i] in aux:
del(lst[i])
return lst
I was trying something like creating a sub-list with all the items except the one the for is currently on, and then check if the item is still in the list. If it is, remove it.
The problem is that it gives me an index out of range error. Does the for i in range(len(lst)): line not update every time it starts over? Since I'm removing items from the list, the list will be shorter, so for a list that has 10 items and 2 duplicates, it will go up to index 9 instead of stopping on the 7th.
Is there anyway to fix this, or should I just try doing this is another way?

I know this does not fix your current script, but would something like this work?
def remove(lst):
unique=[]
for i in lst:
if i not in unique: unique.append(i)
return unique
Just simply looping through, creating another list and checking for membership?

The problem is you are manipulating the list as you are iterating over it. This means that when you reach the end of the list, it is now shorter because you're removed elements. You should (generally) avoid removing elements while you are looping over lists.

You got it the first time: len(lst) is evaluated only when you enter the loop. If you want it re-evaluated, try the while version:
i = 0
while i < len(lst):
...
i += 1
Next, you get to worry about another problem: you increment i only when you don't delete an item. When you do delete, shortening the list gets you to the next element.
i = 0
while i < len(lst):
aux = lst[0:i] + lst[i+1:len(lst)]
if lst[i] in aux:
del(lst[i])
else:
i += 1
I think that should solve your problem ... using the logic you intended.

def remove(lst):
new_list = []
for i in lst:
if i not in new_list:
new_list.append(i)
return new_list
You should append the values to a secondary list. As Bobbyrogers said, it's not a good idea to iterate over a list that is changing.

You can also try this:
lst = [1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6]
lst2 = []
for i in lst:
if i not in lst2:
lst2.append(i)
print(lst2)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Why does removing duplicates from a list produce [None, None] output?

I am new to Python and I'm not able to understand why I am getting the results with None values.
#Remove duplicate items from a list
def remove_duplicates(list):
unique_list = []
return [unique_list.append(item) for item in list if item not in unique_list]
print remove_duplicates([1,1,2,2]) -> result [None, None]
When I print the result it shows the following: [None, None]
PS: I've seen other solutions and also aware of the list(set(list)) but I am trying to understand why the above result with integers gives [None, None] output.

Although using a set is the proper way, the problem with your code, as the comments indicated, is that you are not actually returning unique_list from your function, you are returning the result of the list comprehension.
def remove_duplicates(my_list):
unique_list = []
do = [unique_list.append(item) for item in my_list if item not in unique_list]
return unique_list # Actually return the list!
print remove_duplicates([1,1,2,2]) -> result [1, 2]
Here I simply made a throwaway variable do that is useless, it just "runs" the comprehension. Understand?
That comprehension is storing a value each time you call unique_list.append(item) ... and that value is the result of the append method, which is None! So do equals [None, None].
However, your unique_list is in fact being populated correctly, so we can return that and now your function works as expected.
Of course, this is not a normal use for a list comprehension and really weird.

The problem with your code is that the method list.append returns None. You can test this easily with the following code:
myList=[1, 2, 3]
print myList.append(4)
So, a solution for you would issue would be
def remove_duplicates(myList):
alreadyIncluded = []
return [item for item in myList if item not in alreadyIncluded and not alreadyIncluded.append(item)]
print remove_duplicates([1,1,2,2])
The idea is that you will begin with an empty list of aldeady included elements and you will loop over all the elements in list, including them in the alreadyIncluded list. The not is necessary because the append will return None and not None is True, so the if will not be affected by the inclusion.
You were including a list of the result of the appends (always None), but what you need is a list of the elements that passed the if test.
I hope it helps.

As the other answers have explained, the reason you're getting a list of None values is because list.append returns None, and you're calling it in a list comprehension. That means you're building a list full of None values along side your list of unique values.
I would like to suggest that you ditch the list comprehension. Because you need to access outside state (the list of unique values seen so far), a comprehension can't easily do what you want. A regular for loop is much more appropriate:
def remove_duplicates(lst):
unique_list = []
for item in lst:
if item not in unique_list:
unique_list.append(item)
return unique_list
A more Pythonic approach however would be to use a set to handle the unique items, and to make your function a generator:
def remove_duplicates(lst):
uniques = set()
for item in lst:
if item not in unique_list:
yield item
uniques.add(item)
The itertools.ifilterfase function from the standard library can help improve this even further, as shown in the recipe in the docs (you'll have to scroll down a little to find the specific recipe):
def unique_everseen(iterable, key=None):
"List unique elements, preserving order. Remember all elements ever seen."
# unique_everseen('AAAABBBCCDAABBB') --> A B C D
# unique_everseen('ABBCcAD', str.lower) --> A B C D
seen = set()
seen_add = seen.add
if key is None:
for element in filterfalse(seen.__contains__, iterable):
seen_add(element)
yield element
else:
for element in iterable:
k = key(element)
if k not in seen:
seen_add(k)
yield element

Removing items from a list in a loop [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Strange result when removing item from a list while iterating over it
(8 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
For quite a bit of time now I have been trying to figure out a way to loop through a list and remove the current item that I'm at. I can't seem to get this working as I would like it to. It loops just 1 time through, but I wanted it to loop 2 times. When I remove the removal line - it loops 2 times.
a = [0, 1]
for i in a:
z = a
print z.remove(i)
The output:
[1]
The output that I was expecting:
[1]
[0]

You're changing the list while iterating over it -- z = a doesn't make a copy, it just points z at the same place a points.
Try
for i in a[:]: # slicing a list makes a copy
print i # remove doesn't return the item so print it here
a.remove(i) # remove the item from the original list
or
while a: # while the list is not empty
print a.pop(0) # remove the first item from the list
If you don't need an explicit loop, you can remove items that match a condition with a list comprehension:
a = [i for i in a if i] # remove all items that evaluate to false
a = [i for i in a if condition(i)] # remove items where the condition is False

It is bad practice modify a list while you're looping through it†. Create a copy of the list:
oldlist = ['a', 'b', 'spam', 'c']
newlist = [x for x in oldlist if x != 'spam']
To modify the original list, write the copy back in-place with a slice assignment:
oldlist[:] = [x for x in oldlist if x != 'spam']
† For a gist of why this might be bad practice, consider the implementation details of what goes on with the iterator over the sequence when the sequence changes during iteration. If you've removed the current item, should the iterator point to the next item in the original list or to the next item in the modified list? What if your decision procedure instead removes the previous (or next) item to the current?

The problem is that you're modifying a with remove so the loop exits because the index is now past the end of it.

Don't try to remove multiple items of a list while looping the list. I think it's a general rule you should follow not only in python but also in other programming languages as well.
You could add the item to be removed into a separate list. And then remove all objects in that new list from the original list.