CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
Abin John Thomas
Abin John Thomas

Reputation: 169

List comprehension with if condition in python

I have a list which has elements of type int and str. I need to copy the int elements to another list. I tried a list comprehension which is not working. My equivalent loop is working.

input = ['a',1,'b','c',2,3,'c','d']
output = []
[output.append(a) for a in input if type(a) == int]

[None, None, None]

same logic in loop works.

output = []
for a in input:
    if type(a) == int:
        output.append(a)
print(output)

[1,2,3,]

Can I know what made the difference.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 7690

Answers (5)

Ma Jun
Ma Jun

Reputation: 104

A solution would be:

input = ['a',1,'b','c',2,3,'c','d']
output=[item for item in input if type(item) is int]  or
output=[item for item in input if isinstance(item,int)]

and the last one is quicker than the first.

but when you use:

input = ['a',1,'b','c',2,3,'c','d']
output=[]
[output.append(a) for a in input if type(a) == int]

it means the code execute two results ,the one is output.append(a) append object in end and the list comprehension with if condition creates a new list object after executing ,as a.append()(Look_in_IDLE) return None , so there are three None.

Upvotes: 0

Michael Smith
Michael Smith

Reputation: 1

You can use the following solution to solve your problem:

output = [a for a in input if type(a) == int]

Upvotes: 0

John Hall
John Hall

Reputation: 606

An idiomatic solution would be:

    input = ['a', 1, 'b', 'c', 2, 3, 'c', 'd']
    output = [a for a in input if type(a) == int]

You do not want to use output.append. That is implied by the list comprehension. You can change the first a in the comprehension to an expression containing a. output.append(a) is a method call that returns NONE

Use list comprehensions when you want to collect values into a list you are assigning to a variable or as part of larger expression. Do not use them for side effects as a different format for a 'for loop'. Instead use the for loop.

Spaces after the commas are not required but are considered good style.

Upvotes: 3

Dan Swain
Dan Swain

Reputation: 3108

input = ['a',1,'b','c',2,3,'c','d']
output = [a for a in input if type(a) == int]

The list comprehension automatically creates the list - no need to use append()

Upvotes: 2

U13-Forward
U13-Forward

Reputation: 71620

When you're doing:

input = ['a',1,'b','c',2,3,'c','d']
output = []
[output.append(a) for a in input if type(a) == int]

append returns None, so that's why lot of none's

Btw,:

print(output)

Will be desired result.

Your logic actually works!

But it's not good to use list comprehension as side-effects, so best way would be:

output=[a for a in input if type(a) == int]

Also final best would be isinstance:

output=[a for a in input if isinstance(a,int)]

Upvotes: 10

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