Lists and the ‘for’ loop
Lists
Lists are an ordered collection of objects
>>> data = []
>>> print data
Make an empty list
[]
>>> data.append("Hello!") “append” == “add to the end”
>>> print data
['Hello!']
>>> data.append(5) You can put different objects in
>>> print data
the same list
['Hello!', 5]
>>> data.append([9, 8, 7])
>>> print data
['Hello!', 5, [9, 8, 7]]
>>> data.extend([4, 5, 6]) “extend” appends each
>>> print data element of the new
['Hello!', 5, [9, 8, 7], 4, 5, 6] list to the old one
>>>
Lists and strings are similar
Strings Lists
>>> s = "ATCG" >>> L = ["adenine", "thymine", "cytosine",
>>> print s[0] "guanine"]
A >>> print L[0]
>>> print s[-1] adenine
G >>> print L[-1]
>>> print s[2:] guanine
CG >>> print L[2:]
>>> print "C" in s ['cytosine', 'guanine']
True >>> print "cytosine" in L
>>> s * 3 True
'ATCGATCGATCG' >>> L * 3
['adenine', 'thymine', 'cytosine', 'guanine',
>>> s[9] 'adenine', 'thymine', 'cytosine', 'guanine',
Traceback (most recent call last): 'adenine', 'thymine', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
IndexError: string index out of
>>> L[9]
range Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
>>> IndexError: list index out of range
>>>
But lists are mutable
Strings are immutable. Lists can be changed.
>>> s = "ATCG" >>> L = ["adenine", "thymine", "cytosine",
>>> print s "guanine"]
ATCG >>> print L
>>> s[1] = "U" ['adenine', 'thymine', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? >>> L[1] = "uracil"
TypeError: object doesn't support item assignment >>> print L
>>> s.reverse() ['adenine', 'uracil', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? >>> L.reverse()
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute
'reverse'
>>> print L
>>> print s[::-1] ['guanine', 'cytosine', 'uracil', 'adenine']
GCTA >>> del L[0]
>>> print s >>> print L
ATCG ['cytosine', 'uracil', 'adenine']
>>> >>>
Lists can hold any object
>>> L = ["", 1, "two", 3.0, ["quatro", "fem", [6j], []]]
>>> len(L)
5
>>> print L[-1]
['quatro', 'fem', [6j], []]
>>> len(L[-1])
4
>>> print L[-1][-1]
[]
>>> len(L[-1][-1])
0
>>>
A few more methods
>>> L = ["thymine", "cytosine", "guanine"]
>>> L.insert(0, "adenine")
>>> print L
['adenine', 'thymine', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
>>> L.insert(2, "uracil")
>>> print L
['adenine', 'thymine', 'uracil', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
>>> print L[:2]
['adenine', 'thymine']
>>> L[:2] = ["A", "T"]
>>> print L
['A', 'T', 'uracil', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
>>> L[:2] = []
>>> print L
['uracil', 'cytosine', 'guanine']
>>> L[:] = ["A", "T", "C", "G"]
>>> print L
['A', 'T', 'C', 'G']
>>>
Turn a string into a list
>>> s = "AAL532906 aaaatagtcaaatatatcccaattcagtatgcgctgagta"
>>> i = s.find(" ")
>>> print i
9
>>> print s[:i]
Complicated
AAL532906
>>> print s[i+1:]
aaaatagtcaaatatatcccaattcagtatgcgctgagta
>>>
>>> fields = s.split()
>>> print fields
['AAL532906', 'aaaatagtcaaatatatcccaattcagtatgcgctgagta']
>>> print fields[0]
AAL532906
>>> print len(fields[1]) Easier!
40
>>>
More split examples
>>> protein = "ALA PRO ILU CYS"
>>> residues = protein.split()
split() uses ‘whitespace’ to
>>> print residues find each word
['ALA', 'PRO', 'ILU', 'CYS']
>>>
>>> protein = " ALA PRO ILU CYS \n"
>>> print protein.split()
['ALA', 'PRO', 'ILU', 'CYS'] split(c) uses that character
to find each word
>>> print "HIS-GLU-PHE-ASP".split("-")
['HIS', 'GLU', 'PHE', 'ASP']
>>>
Turn a list into a string
join is the opposite of split
>>> L1 = ["Asp", "Gly", "Gln", "Pro", "Val"]
>>> print "-".join(L1)
Asp-Gly-Gln-Pro-Val
>>> print "**".join(L1)
Asp**Gly**Gln**Pro**Val
>>> print "\n".join(L1)
Asp
Gly
Gln
Pro
Val
>>>
The order is confusing.
- string to join is first
- list to be joined is second
The ‘for’ loop
Lets you do something to
each element in a list
>>> for name in ["Andrew", "Tsanwani", "Arno", "Tebogo"]:
... print "Hello,", name
...
Hello, Andrew
Hello, Tsanwani
Hello, Arno
Hello, Tebogo
>>>
The ‘for’ loop
Lets you do something to
each element in a list
>>> for name in ["Andrew", "Tsanwani", "Arno", "Tebogo"]:
... print "Hello,", name
... a new code block
Hello, Andrew
Hello, Tsanwani
Hello, Arno it must be indented
Hello, Tebogo
>>>
IDLE indents automatically when
it sees a ‘:’ on the previous line
A two line block
All lines in the same code block
must have the same indentation
>>> for name in ["Andrew", "Tsanwani", "Arno", "Tebogo"]:
... print "Hello,", name
... print "Your name is", len(name), "letters long"
...
Hello, Andrew
Your name is 6 letters long
Hello, Tsanwani
Your name is 8 letters long
Hello, Arno
Your name is 4 letters long
Hello, Tebogo
Your name is 6 letters long
>>>
When indentation does not match
>>> a = 1
>>> a = 1
File "<stdin>", line 1
a = 1
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> for name in ["Andrew", "Tsanwani", "Arno", "Tebogo"]:
... print "Hello,", name
... print "Your name is", len(name), "letters long"
File "<stdin>", line 3
print "Your name is", len(name), "letters long"
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> for name in ["Andrew", "Tsanwani", "Arno", "Tebogo"]:
... print "Hello,", name
... print "Your name is", len(name), "letters long"
File "<stdin>", line 3
print "Your name is", len(name), "letters long"
^
IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level
>>>
‘for’ works on strings
A string is similar to a list of letters
>>> seq = "ATGCATGTCGC"
>>> for letter in seq:
... print "Base:", letter
...
Base: A
Base: T
Base: G
Base: C
Base: A
Base: T
Base: G
Base: T
Base: C
Base: G
Base: C
>>>
Numbering bases
>>> seq = "ATGCATGTCGC"
>>> n = 0
>>> for letter in seq:
... print "base", n, "is", letter
... n = n + 1
...
base 0 is A
base 1 is T
base 2 is G
base 3 is C
base 4 is A
base 5 is T
base 6 is G
base 7 is T
base 8 is C
base 9 is G
base 10 is C
>>>
>>> print "The sequence has", n, "bases"
The sequence has 11 bases
>>>
The range function
>>> range(5)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> range(8)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] >>> help(range)
>>> range(2, 8) Help on built-in function range:
[2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
>>> range(0, 8, 1) range(...)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] range([start,] stop[, step]) -> list of integers
>>> range(0, 8, 2)
Return a list containing an arithmetic progression of integers.
[0, 2, 4, 6] range(i, j) returns [i, i+1, i+2, ..., j-1]; start (!) defaults to 0.
>>> range(0, 8, 3) When step is given, it specifies the increment (or decrement).
[0, 3, 6] For example, range(4) returns [0, 1, 2, 3]. The end point is omitted!
These are exactly the valid indices for a list of 4 elements.
>>> range(0, 8, 4)
[0, 4]
>>> range(0, 8, -1)
[]
>>> range(8, 0, -1)
[8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
>>>
Do something ‘N’ times
>>> for i in range(3):
... print "If I tell you three times it must be true."
...
If I tell you three times it must be true.
If I tell you three times it must be true.
If I tell you three times it must be true.
>>>
>>> for i in range(4):
... print i, "squared is", i*i, "and cubed is", i*i*i
...
0 squared is 0 and cubed is 0
1 squared is 1 and cubed is 1
2 squared is 4 and cubed is 8
3 squared is 9 and cubed is 27
>>>
Exercise 1
Write a program that asks for a sequence
(use the raw_input function) then prints it 10
times. Include the loop count in the output
Enter a sequence: TACG
0 TACG
1 TACG
2 TACG
3 TACG
4 TACG
5 TACG
6 TACG
7 TACG
8 TACG
9 TACG
Exercise 2
Write a program that asks for a sequence
then numbers each base, one base per line.
Enter a sequence: GTTCAG
base 0 is G Can you modify your
base 1 is T program to start with
base 2 is T base 1 instead of 0?
base 3 is C
base 4 is A
base 5 is G
Exercise 3
Here is a Python list of restriction site patterns
restriction_sites = [
"GAATTC", # EcoRI
"GGATCC", # BamHI
"AAGCTT", # HindIII
]
Write a program that prints each pattern.
GAATTC is a restriction site
GGATCC is a restriction site
AAGCTT is a restriction site
Note: there is no input for this exercise,
just print the items in the list.
Exercise 4
Modify the program from Exercise 3 to ask for a sequence
then say whether each restriction site is or is not present
Enter a sequence: AGAATTC
GAATTC is in the sequence: True
GGATCC is in the sequence: False
AAGCTT is in the sequence: False
Hint from yesterday’s/last lecture on strings - use ‘in’:
>>> print "AT" in "GATTACA"
True
>>> print "GG" in "GATTACA"
False
>>>
