List of lists in Python(with examples)

Hello Techies,

In this tutorial, we will learn about How to create or access a list of lists in Python with the help of examples.

Different ways to create, access, and use of a list of lists in Python

What is a List of Lists?

The list of lists in Python is to add a list to another list. We can also call this a Nested List.

Example: list_of_list = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]]

Append method to create a list of lists in Python

Creating a list of lists in Python is easy. You need to use the append method to create list of lists.

Below is a simple example to create a list of lists in Python.

# Program to create a list of lists in Python

list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
list2 = [5, 6, 7, 8]

# create empty list
list_of_lists = []
list_of_lists.append(list1)
list_of_lists.append(list2)
print("List of Lists:", list_of_lists)

Output:

List of Lists: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8]]

How to access elements in a list of lists in Python

There are many ways that you can access the elements of a list. You know that the Python list starts with index 0 and is written in square braces. So we can access the list in 2 ways: using the positive index and negative index.

Example of Positive indexing

# Program to access elements in a list of lists in Python
# using positive indexing

list_of_list = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

# accessing second element from list_of_list object
second_obj_lol = list_of_list[1]
print("Second element of list is:", second_obj_lol)

# accessing 3rd element of 1st list from list_of_list object
third_ele_lol = list_of_list[0][2]
print("3rd element of 1st list is:", third_ele_lol)

Output:

Second element of list is: [5, 6, 7, 8]
3rd element of 1st list is: 3

Example of Negative indexing

# Program to access elements in a list of lists in Python
# using negative indexing

list_of_list = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

# accessing second element from list_of_list object
second_obj_lol = list_of_list[-2]
print("Second element of list is:", second_obj_lol)

# accessing 3rd element of 1st list from list_of_list object
third_ele_lol = list_of_list[-3][-2]
print("3rd element of 1st list is:", third_ele_lol)

Output:

Second element of list is: [5, 6, 7, 8]
3rd element of 1st list is: 3

Remove items from a List of Lists

You can use the below methods to remove elements from the list of lists:

• pop()
• remove()
• del keyword

pop()

The pop() function modifies the list and returns the removed item.

# Program to remove an element from List of Lists
# using pop() function

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# pop() function remove element from list
result = list1[1].pop(1)
print("Removed element is:", result)
print("Modified list is:", list1)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Removed element is: 6
Modified list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

remove()

If you’re not sure where the item in the list is, use the remove() method to delete it by value.

# Program to remove an element from List of Lists
# using remove() function

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Originaremovel list is:", list1)

# remove() method remove element from list
result = list1[1].remove(8)
print("Modified list is:", list1)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Modified list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

del

Use the del statement if you do not need the removed value.

# Program to remove an element from List of Lists
# using del keyword

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# del keyword to remove element from list
del list1[1][1]
del list1[2]
print("Modified list is:", list1)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Modified list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 7, 8]]

Iterate through a Nested List

To iterate the items on the list of lists, use a simple for loop.

# Program to Iterate through a Nested List

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

# Iterate through a Nested List
for obj in list1:
    for each in obj:
        print(each, end=' ')

Output:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 4 8 9 0

Find Nested List Length

You can use the built-in len() function to find the length of the nested list in Python.

# Program to find length of the nested list

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]

print("Length of list is", len(list1))
print("Length of 2 element list is", len(list1[1]))

Output:

Length of list is 3
Length of 2 element list is 4

Convert List of Lists to One List using for loop

We’re using a for loop with the append() method to convert a list to a list. Check out the following example:

# Program to Convert a List of Lists to One List using for loop

list_of_list = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
new_list = []

for each in list_of_list:
    for i in each:
        new_list.append(i)

print("Result is:", new_list)

Output:

Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

Convert List of Lists to One List using List Comprehension

In the example below, we are using the list comprehension method to convert List of Lists to One List.

# Program to Convert List of Lists to One List
# using list comprehension

list_of_list = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list_of_list)

# list comprehension
one_list = [item for sublist in list_of_list for item in sublist]
print("Result is:", one_list)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

Convert List of Lists to One List using itertools (chain())

itertools is a Python 3 library. Which has a lot of great functions. To convert a list of lists into a list, we are using one of its functions which is a chain() function.

The chain() function takes multiple iterations as parameters and returns a single iteration.

Example of chain() function in Python to convert List of lists in one list

# Program to Convert List of Lists to One List
# using itertools(chain())

import itertools

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# using chain() function that will to print all elements of lists
one_list = list(itertools.chain(*list1))
print("Result is:", one_list)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

Flatten List of Lists Using the sum() function

To Flatten List of Lists using Python’s Built-In sum() function. Check out the below example:

# Program to Convert List of Lists to One List
# using sum() function

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# using sum() function that will to print all elements of lists
one_list = sum(list1, [])
print("Result is:", one_list)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

Flatten List of Lists Using Lambda

An anonymous function can be defined using the Lambda keyword. Let’s use the lambda function to convert a list of lists into a list.

Example:

# Program to Convert List of Lists to One List
# using lambda function

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# using lambda function
# to print all elements of lists
one_list = lambda list1: [item for sublist in list1 for item in sublist]
print("Result is:", one_list(list1))

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

In the example below, we are using Lambda with reduce() function to convert a list of items into a list.

# Program to Convert List of Lists to One List
# using lambda with reduce() function

from functools import reduce # python 3

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# using lambda with reduce() function
# to print all elements of lists
one_list = reduce(lambda x, y: x+y, list1)
print("Result is:", one_list)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4, 8, 9, 0]

Convert List of Lists to Dictionary

Example of a list of lists to dictionary conversion in Python

# Program to Convert List of Lists to the dictionary

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# list to dict conversion
result = {item[0]: item[1:] for item in list1}
print("Result is:", result)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: {1: [2, 3, 4], 5: [6, 7, 8], 4: [8, 9, 0]}

Convert List of Lists to Tuple

Example of a list of lists to Tuple conversion in Python

# Program to Convert List of Lists to a tuple

list1 = [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
print("Original list is:", list1)

# list to tuple conversion
result = tuple(tuple(sub) for sub in list1)
print("Result is:", result)

Output:

Original list is: [[1, 2, 3, 4], [5, 6, 7, 8], [4, 8, 9, 0]]
Result is: ((1, 2, 3, 4), (5, 6, 7, 8), (4, 8, 9, 0))

FAQ on list of lists in Python

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned about a list of lists in Python with the help of multiple examples, We have covered the following points:

• What’s a List of Lists?
• Append method to create a list of lists in Python
• How to access elements in a list of lists in Python
• Remove items from a List of Lists
• Iterate through a Nested List
• Find Nested List Length
• Convert List of Lists to One List using for loop
• Convert List of Lists to One List using List Comprehension
• Convert List of Lists to One List using itertools (chain())
• Flatten List of Lists Using the sum() function
• Flatten List of Lists Using Lambda
• Convert List of Lists to Dictionary
• Convert List of Lists to Tuple