Python - Access List Items

List items are indexed and you can access them by referring to the index number:

Print the second item of the list: thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

The first item has index 0.

-1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item etc.

Print the last item of the list: thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range.

Return the third, fourth, and fifth item: thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]

The search will start at index 2 (included) and end at index 5 (not included). Remember that the first item has index 0. By leaving out the start value, the range will start at the first item:

This example returns the items from the beginning to, but NOT including, "kiwi": thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]

By leaving out the end value, the range will go on to the end of the list:

This example returns the items from "cherry" to the end: thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]

Specify negative indexes if you want to start the search from the end of the list:

This example returns the items from "orange" (-4) to, but NOT including "mango" (-1): thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]

To determine if a specified item is present in a list use the in keyword:

Check if "apple" is present in the list: thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] if "apple" in thislist: