{"id":320,"date":"2020-10-07T01:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T01:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pythontutorial.net\/?page_id=320"},"modified":"2025-03-26T13:51:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T13:51:32","slug":"python-unpack-list","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pythontutorial.net\/python-basics\/python-unpack-list\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Unpack a List in Python"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to unpack a list in Python to make your code more concise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction to the list unpacking #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The following example defines a list<\/a> of strings<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n

colors = ['red'<\/span>, 'blue'<\/span>, 'green'<\/span>]<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
colors = ['red'<\/span>, 'blue'<\/span>, 'green'<\/span>]\n\nred = colors[0<\/span>]\nblue = colors[1<\/span>]\ngreen = colors[2<\/span>]<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
However, Python provides a better way to do this. It’s called sequence unpacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
colors = ['red'<\/span>, 'blue'<\/span>, 'green'<\/span>]\n\nred, blue, green = colors\n\nprint(red)\nprint(green)\nprint(blue)<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
This statement assigns the first, second, and third elements of the colors<\/code> list to the red<\/code>, blue<\/code>, and green<\/code> variables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this example, the number of variables on the left side is the same as the number of elements in the list on the right side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you use a fewer number of variables on the left side, you’ll get an error. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n
colors = ['red'<\/span>, 'blue'<\/span>, 'green'<\/span>]\nred, blue = colors\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Error:<\/p>\n\n\n
ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 2<\/span>)<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> Python<\/span> (<\/span>python<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
In this case, Python could not unpack three elements to two variables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unpacking and packing #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you want to unpack the first few elements of a list and don’t care about the other elements, you can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try it<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try it<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basically, you can assign elements of a list<\/a> (and also a tuple<\/a>) to multiple variables. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n
To assign the first, second, and third elements of the list to variables<\/a>, you may assign individual elements to variables like this:<\/p>\n\n\n