10.3. List Length¶
As with strings, the function len returns the length of a list (the number
of items in the list). However, since lists can have items which are themselves lists, it important to note
that len only returns the top-most length. In other words, sublists are considered to be a single
item when counting the length of the list.
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Check your understanding
- 4
- len returns the actual number of items in the list, not the maximum index value.
- 5
- Yes, there are 5 items in this list.
What is printed by the following statements?
alist = [3, 67, "cat", 3.14, False]
print(len(alist))
- 7
- Yes, there are 7 items in this list even though two of them happen to also be lists.
- 8
- len returns the number of top level items in the list. It does not count items in sublists.
What is printed by the following statements?
alist = [3, 67, "cat", [56, 57, "dog"], [ ], 3.14, False]
print(len(alist))