Getting the Size of a List in Python: Using the `len()` Function

1 year ago
Ava Mitchell
2 minutes

In Python, lists are versatile, ordered, and mutable collections of items. A common task when working with lists is to determine their size, which refers to the number of elements they contain. Python provides a straightforward and efficient built-in function for this purpose: len().

Using the len() Function to Get List Size

The len() function is a fundamental built-in function in Python that returns the number of items (or length) of an object. It can be used with various data types, including strings, tuples, dictionaries, and, of course, lists.

Syntax:

len(list_name)

Where list_name is the list whose size you want to determine.

Example:

# Create a list containing several elements
my_list = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

# Use the len() function to get the size of the list
list_size = len(my_list)

# Print the size of the list
print("The size of the list is:", list_size)  # Output: The size of the list is: 5

In this example:

  1. A list named my_list is created with five integer elements.
  2. The len(my_list) function call returns the count of elements in my_list, which is 5.
  3. This value is assigned to the list_size variable.
  4. Finally, the program prints the size of the list, clearly indicating the number of elements it contains.

The len() function is the standard and most Pythonic way to get the size of a list, offering both readability and performance for this common operation.

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