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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.

alist = ["hello", 2.0, 5, [10, 20]] print(len(alist)) print(len(['spam!', 1, ['Brie', 'Roquefort', 'Pol le Veq'], [1, 2, 3]]))

Check your understanding

What is printed by the following statements?

alist = [3, 67, "cat", 3.14, False]
print(len(alist))

• 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", [56, 57, "dog"], [ ], 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.

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