List comprehensions in Python

In my previous post, I covered How to use map, filter and reduce in Python.

Here I demonstrate how to use a List comprehension to achieve similar results to using map and filter together.

You can use a list comprehension to iterate over an iterable, like a string, list or tuple and create new list,

Basic

The simplest kind does nothing.

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = [x for x in a]
b
# [1, 2, 3]

Map style

Here we apply something like the map call.

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = [x**2 for x in a]
b
# [1, 4, 9]

Note you don't need a lambda.

If you had a function, you would use it like this:

b = [square(x) for x in a]
b
# [1, 4, 9]

Using a string instead of a list.

c = 'aBcD'
c.isupper()
# False

[x for x in c if x.isupper()]
# ['B', 'D']

Filter style

This is a way to an if statement inside the list comprehension to filter out values.

a = [1, 2, 3]

[x for x in a if x > 2]
# [3]

[x for x in a if x > 1]
# [2, 3]

[x**2 for x in a if x > 1]
# [4, 9]

Map and filter combined

You can use the map and filter styles together.

a = [1, 2, 3]
[x**2 for x in a if x > 2]
# [9]

[x**2 for x in a if x**2 > 2]
# [4, 9]

Generator

As a bonus, you can use a list comprehension as a generator if you use round brackets instead of square brackets.

I have hardly need to use this, but if you need to optimize your performance or you are working with large external data in a file or a REST API, you could find this useful. As it reduces how much is processed and stored in memory at once.

Standard:

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = [x**2 for x in a]
[1, 4, 9]

Generator:

c = (x**2 for x in a)
c
# <generator object <genexpr> at 0x1019d0f90>
list(c)
[1, 4, 9]

Or you might use a for loop to iterate over your initial list.

Here we chain two generators together. Computation is done lazily - both generators are only evaluated at the end.

c = (x**2 for x in a)
d = (x+1 for x in c)

list(d)
# [2, 5, 10]

That is similar to this, which applies both transformations at once.

d = (x**2 + 1 for x in a)
list(d)
# [2, 5, 10]

Or with function calls.

d = (add_one(square(x)) for x in a)
list(d)
# [2, 5, 10]

Links

See this a post by @kalebu - A guide to Python list comprehension

Interested in more of my writing on Python? I have 3 main places where I collect Python material that is useful to me.

• Python topic on Learn to Code - good for beginners but the resources list will useful for all levels.
• Python Cheatsheets
• Python Recipes

Here are all my Python repos on GitHub if you want to see what I like to build.