Remove List Items in Python

In Python, lists are mutable data structures that allow you to remove items easily. This lesson will cover different methods for removing items from a list, including removing specified items, removing items by index, and clearing the list entirely.

1. Remove Specified Item

To remove a specific item from a list, you can use the remove() method. This method takes the value of the item you want to remove as an argument.

Example:

Remove "banana":

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist.remove("banana")  # Removing "banana" from the list
print(thislist)  # Output: ['apple', 'cherry']

Note:

If there are multiple occurrences of the specified item, the remove() method will only remove the first occurrence.

Example:

Remove the first occurrence of "banana":

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "banana", "kiwi"]
thislist.remove("banana")  # This removes the first "banana"
print(thislist)  # Output: ['apple', 'cherry', 'banana', 'kiwi']

2. Remove Specified Index

You can also remove items by their index using the pop() method. This method removes the item at the specified index and returns that item.

Example:

Remove the second item:

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist.pop(1)  # This removes the item at index 1 (second item)
print(thislist)  # Output: ['apple', 'cherry']

Note:

If you do not specify an index, the pop() method will remove and return the last item in the list.

Example:

Remove the last item:

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist.pop()  # This removes the last item
print(thislist)  # Output: ['apple', 'banana']

3. Using the

The del keyword can also be used to remove items from a list by specifying the index.

Example:

Remove the first item:

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
del thislist[0]  # This removes the item at index 0 (first item)
print(thislist)  # Output: ['banana', 'cherry']

Note:

The del keyword can also delete the entire list.

Example:

Delete the entire list:

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
del thislist  # This deletes the entire list
# print(thislist)  # This will raise a NameError since the list no longer exists

4. Clear the List

If you want to empty a list but keep the list itself, you can use the clear() method. This method removes all items from the list.

Example:

Clear the list content:

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thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
thislist.clear()  # This empties the list
print(thislist)  # Output: []