Last Updated : 20 Nov, 2024
Lists in Python have various built-in methods to remove items such as remove, pop, del and clear methods. Removing elements from a list can be done in various ways depending on whether we want to remove based on the value of the element or index.
The simplest way to remove an element from a list by its value is by using the remove()method. Here's an example:
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
a.remove(30)
print(a)
Let's us see different method to remove elements from the list.
Using remove() - remove item by valueTheremove() method deletes the first occurrence of a specified value in the list. If multiple items have the same value, only the first match is removed.
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 20, 40, 50]
# Remove the first occurance of 20
a.remove(20)
print(a)
[10, 30, 20, 40, 50]Using pop() - remove item by Index
The pop() method can be used to remove an element from a list based on its index and it also returns the removed element. This method is helpful when we need to both remove and access the item at a specific position.
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# Remove element at index 1 and return its value in val
val = a.pop(1)
print(a)
print("Removed Item:", val)
[10, 30, 40, 50] Removed Item: 20
If we do not specify the index then pop() method removes the last element.
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# This will remove the last element
val = a.pop()
print(a)
print("Removed Item:", val)
[10, 20, 30, 40] Removed Item: 50Using del() - remove item by index
The del statement can remove elements from a list by specifying their index or a range of indices.
Removing a single element by index Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
# Removes element at index 2 (which is 30).
del a[2]
print(a)
Removing multiple elements by index range
We can also use del to remove multiple elements from a list by specifying a range of indices.
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70]
# Removes elements from index 1 to index 3 (which are 20, 30, 40)
del a[1:4]
print(a)
Using clear() - remove all elements
If we want to remove all elements from a list then we can use the clear() method. This is useful when we want to empty a list entirely but keep the list object.
Python
a = [10, 20, 30, 40]
# Empty a list entirely
a.clear()
print(a)
Remove List Items in Python - Which method to use? Method Removes By Returns Removed Element Modifies List In-Place remove() Remove item by Value No Yes pop() Remove item by Index (or last item) Yes Yes del Remove by Index or range No Yes clear() Remove all elements No Yes
Related Articles:
How to Remove an Item from the List in Python
RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.4