How To add Elements to a List in Python

Updated on June 17, 2024

Python

Pankaj

Introduction

In this tutorial, we will learn different ways to add elements to a list in Python.

There are four methods to add elements to a List in Python.


           append()

: append the element to the end of the list.


           insert()

: inserts the element before the given index.


           extend()

: extends the list by appending elements from the iterable.

List Concatenation: We can use the

operator to concatenate multiple lists and create a new list.

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Prerequisites

How to Code in Python 3 series or using VS Code for Python .

This tutorial was tested with Python 3.9.6.

`append()`

fruit_list = ["Apple", "Banana"]
print(f'Current Fruits List {fruit_list}')
new_fruit = input("Please enter a fruit name:\n")
fruit_list.append(new_fruit)
print(f'Updated Fruits List {fruit_list}')
Output:
Current Fruits List ['Apple', 'Banana']
Please enter a fruit name:
Orange
Updated Fruits List ['Apple', 'Banana', 'Orange']
This example added Orange to the end of the list.
insert()

This function adds an element at the given index of the list.
num_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
print(f'Current Numbers List {num_list}')
num = int(input("Please enter a number to add to list:\n"))
index = int(input(f'Please enter the index between 0 and {len(num_list) - 1} to add the number:\n'))
num_list.insert(index, num)
print(f'Updated Numbers List {num_list}')
Output:
Current Numbers List [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Please enter a number to add to list:
Please enter the index between 0 and 4 to add the number:
Updated Numbers List [1, 2, 20, 3, 4, 5]
This example added 20 at the index of 2. 20 has been inserted into the list at this index.
extend()

This function adds iterable elements to the list.
extend_list = []
extend_list.extend([1, 2])  # extending list elements
print(extend_list)
extend_list.extend((3, 4))  # extending tuple elements
print(extend_list)
extend_list.extend("ABC")  # extending string elements
print(extend_list)
Output:
[1, 2]
[1, 2, 3, 4]
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'A', 'B', 'C']
This example added a list of [1, 2]. Then it added a tuple of (3, 4). And then it added a string of ABC.
List Concatenation

If you have to concatenate multiple lists, you can use the + operator. This will create a new list, and the original lists will remain unchanged.
evens = [2, 4, 6]
odds = [1, 3, 5]
nums = odds + evens
print(nums)  # [1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6]
This example added the list of evens to the end of the list of odds. The new list will contain elements from the list from left to right. It’s similar to the string concatenation in Python.
Conclusion

Python provides multiple ways to add elements to a list. We can append an element at the end of the list, and insert an element at the given index. We can also add a list to another list. If you want to concatenate multiple lists, then use the overloaded + operator
References:
Python List
Python.org Docs

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                     JournalDev
                    
                    
                     
                      DigitalOcean Employee
                     
                     
                    
                    
                     •
                    
                    
                     December 6, 2020

list1 = [“M”, “na”, “i”, “Ke”] list2 = [“y”, “me”, “s”, “lly”] list3 = [i + j for i,j in zip(list1, list2)] How is the above different to this; list3 = list() for i,j in zip(list1, list2): list3 = i + j how are these 2 codes different from one another?


              
               
                
                 
                  
                   
                    
                     - Asad Jaffer


              
               
                
                 
                  
                   
                    
                     JournalDev
                    
                    
                     
                      DigitalOcean Employee
                     
                     
                    
                    
                     •
                    
                    
                     November 23, 2020

how to use add method like i mean list.add(x)… explain

Tutorial

How To add Elements to a List in Python

Introduction

Prerequisites

`append()`

`insert()`

`extend()`

List Concatenation

Conclusion

`Still looking for an answer?`