Access Items
List items are indexed and you can access them by referring to the index number:
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
print(thislist[1])Note
The first item has index 0.
Negative Indexing
Negative indexing means start from the end
-1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item etc.
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
print(thislist[-1])Range of Indexes
You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range.
When specifying a range, the return value will be a new list with the specified items.
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange",
"kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:5])Note
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:
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange",
"kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[:4])By leaving out the end value, the range will go on to the end of the list:
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange",
"kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:])Range of Negative Indexes
Specify negative indexes if you want to start the search from the end of the list:
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange",
"kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[-4:-1])Check if Item Exists
To determine if a specified item is present in a list use the in keyword:
Example
thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
if "apple" in thislist:
print("Yes, 'apple' is in the fruits list")