Introduction
Currently, Python is a great programming language for beginners. It’s a fairly easy-to-learn language that’s intuitive and fun to use. One of the first things you learn in Python is how to find the length of a list.
Python List length is an important aspect of Python and calculating the length is an important skill, so it’s helpful to know how to do it.
This article will teach you 3 different ways to calculate the length of list in python, so be sure to check out this article if you want some practice with lists.
Let’s get started.
What is Python List Length?
Before we get to know more about ways to get length of list python it’s important for the beginners to clear their basic concepts very well.
It’s essential to know the basic definition and declaration of the list in python.
Lists are one-dimensional arrays that can contain any type of object including numbers, strings, and other lists. They are created with square brackets which are then followed by commas that indicate the items where each list item is separated by a comma.
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Let’s see one example to clear your concepts.
To check out the length of the list in python we have 3 different ways to get the python list length i.e. Naive method, using len(), using length_hint().
What is List size in Python?
List size in Python is a significant concept that is used to define the length of a list. List size in Python is the number of items in a list. This can be calculated using the len() function.
So we have discussed a very basic definition and declaration as well as 3 different ways to find the length of list python. It's time to discuss each method to get length of list python briefly with a proper code.
How to find the length of a list in python (3 easiest ways)
Basically, we have 3 amazing ways to find the length of list in Python.
- Naive Method
- Using len() method
- Using length_hiint() method.
1. Naive Method to Find Python List Length
The naive method is also known as a traditional method where we considered using for loop.
In this method, you just have to run a loop and increase the counter until the last element of the list to know its count. This is the considerable method that can be used in the scarcity of other efficient methods.
Let's see an example:
Output:
The algorithm has two problems:
- It needs to iterate through every element in the list and count them, which is time-consuming, especially for long lists.
- The resulting value is not always accurate because it does not take into account items that are repeated in the list.
To fix these issues we have one more method that is one of the methods to find the length of the list in python.
2. Using len() method to Find Python List Length
The len() method is a built-in function in Python that returns the length of a list. It is used to find the number of items in a list.
It can be used on any type of object that can be converted to an integer, such as strings, integers, and lists. This function will work on any collection of objects that can be counted.
This method is mostly used and a suitable way to find the length of list in python by programmers.
The syntax for len() method is len(sequence).
For example, if we want to find the length of list python.
list1 = [1, 2, 3]
then we can use the following code:
len(list1) # return 3
3. Using length_hint() to Find Python List Length
The length_hint() method of finding the length of a list python is one of the lesser-known ways to find out the size of a list.
This method is defined in the operator class and it can also tell the no. of elements present in the list.
Example:
Output :
Which one is the best method to find the length of list python?
len() method is one of the best methods and most programmers considered this approach to get length of list in python.
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Conclusion
Basically, we have understood the 3 methods to find the length of list python and we have defined each one of them with a proper code to check length of list python. Most of the programmers prefer len() method to find out the length of list python.
What do you think about len() method being the best approach or not to find the python list length?
If you like to read more articles, be sure to read more blogs and keep up to date yourself.
FAQs
Q1. How to find the length of a list in Python without len()?
Ans: As we have already discussed we have 3 different ways to find out the length of list in python and len() method is the best one. But if you want to find without len then you can use naive method.
Q2. What is python size of list in bytes?
Ans: Whenever we create any list object, it usually takes 64 bytes of memory and each item takes 8 bytes of memory to the size of list.
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