{"id":118576,"date":"2020-09-27T06:19:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T06:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.finxter.com\/?p=13819"},"modified":"2020-09-27T06:19:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T06:19:27","slug":"how-to-get-the-last-element-of-a-python-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/09\/27\/how-to-get-the-last-element-of-a-python-list\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get the Last Element of a Python List?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem<\/strong>: Given a list<\/a>. How to access the last element of this list?<\/p>\n

Example<\/strong>: You have the list ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Liz']<\/code> and you want to get the last element 'Liz'<\/code>. <\/p>\n

Quick solution<\/strong>: Use negative indexing <\/a>-1.<\/p>\n

friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Liz']\nprint(friends[-1])\n# Liz<\/pre>\n
To access the last element of a Python list, use the indexing notation list[-1]<\/code> with negative index -1<\/code> which points to the last list element. To access the second-, third-, and fourth-last elements, use the indices -2<\/code>, -3<\/code>, and -4<\/code>. To access the n<\/code> last elements of a list, use slicing list[:-n-1:-1]<\/code> with negative stop index -n<\/code> and negative step size -1<\/code>. <\/p>\n
Method 1: Access the Last Element with Negative Indexing -1<\/h2>\n
To bring everybody on the same page, let me quickly explain indices in Python by example. Suppose, you have list ['u', 'n', 'i', 'v', 'e', 'r', 's', 'e']<\/code>. The indices are simply the positions of the characters of this string.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n
(Positive) Index<\/strong><\/td>\n0<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Element<\/strong><\/td>\n‘u’<\/td>\n‘n’<\/td>\n‘i’<\/td>\n‘v’<\/td>\n‘e’<\/td>\n‘r’<\/td>\n‘s’<\/td>\n‘e’<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Negative Index<\/strong><\/td>\n-8<\/td>\n-7<\/td>\n-6<\/td>\n-5<\/td>\n-4<\/td>\n-3<\/td>\n-2<\/td>\n-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n
Positive Index<\/strong>: The first character has index 0<\/code>, the second character has index 1<\/code>, and the i<\/code>-th character has index i-1<\/code>.<\/p>\n
Negative Index<\/strong>: The last character has index -1<\/code>, the second last character has index -2<\/code>, and the i<\/code>-th last character has index -i<\/code>.<\/p>\n
Now, you can understand how to access the last element of the list:<\/p>\n
friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Liz']\nprint(friends[-1])\n# Liz<\/pre>\n
But how to access the second-last element? Just use index -2!<\/p>\n
friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Liz']\nprint(friends[-2])\n# Bob<\/pre>\n
Method 2: Access the n Last Elements with Slicing<\/h2>\n
But what if you want to access the n<\/code> last elements? The answer is slicing<\/a>. <\/p>\n
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