Accessing List Items in Python: Indexing and Negative Indexing

Learn how to access items in Python lists using indexing and negative indexing techniques. Discover how to retrieve items by their index number, and understand negative indexing to access list elements from the end. Explore practical examples with code snippets demonstrating how to work with list indices effectively.

Python - Access List Items

Access Items

List items are indexed, and you can access them by referring to their index number:

Example


thislist = ["orange", "grape", "melon"]
print(thislist[1])

Output


grape

Note: The first item has index 0.

Negative Indexing

Negative indexing means starting from the end of the list. -1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item, and so on.

Example


thislist = ["orange", "grape", "melon"]
print(thislist[-1])

Output


melon

Range of Indexes

You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and end the range. The return value will be a new list with the specified items.

Example


thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:5])

Output


['cherry', 'orange', 'kiwi']

Note: The search will start at index 2 (included) and end at index 5 (not included).

Omitting Start Value

If you leave out the start value, the range will start at the first item:

Example


thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[:4])

Output


['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'orange']

Omitting End Value

If you leave out the end value, the range will go on to the end of the list:

Example


thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[2:])

Output


['cherry', 'orange', 'kiwi', 'melon', 'mango']

Range of Negative Indexes

You can specify negative indexes if you want to start the search from the end of the list:

Example


thislist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango"]
print(thislist[-4:-1])

Output


['orange', 'kiwi', 'melon']

Check if Item Exists

To determine if a specified item is present in a list, use the in keyword:

Example


thislist = ["orange", "grape", "melon"]
if "orange" in thislist:
print("Yes, 'orange' is in the fruits list")

Output


Yes, 'orange' is in the fruits list