Iterate through List Python

Question

I am trying to see if a string I have is similar to any of the strings in a dictionary in python. When I am looking for exact matches, I can do this:

stringList = []
if (myString in stringList):
    #do something

Looking for similar matches using Python Levenshtein is the best I can come up with (I'm sure with some errors).

stringList = []
for i in range(len(stringList)):
    if distance(myString, stringList[i]) < 2:
        #do something
    else:
        #do something else

Is there a better way? Thanks.

how does this comes under dictionary when you are using only list in example provide sample input and expected output — The6thSense, Jul 17 '15 at 18:35

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

2

From https://stackoverflow.com/a/10018734/4941367

Use the difflib module.

difflib.get_close_matches(myString, myList)

edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

Community

1
1

answered Jul 17 '15 at 18:42

Jeremy

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 17 '15 at 19:16

2

it's more pythonic like this :

stringList = []
for item in stringList:
    if distance(myString, item) < 2:
        #do something
    else:
        #do something else

best regard

answered Jul 17 '15 at 19:16

Emmanuel DUMAS

680
10
25

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 17 '15 at 18:42

1

If you don't care what string is close enough, you can use the min function:

if min(distance(x, myString) for x in stringList) < 2:
    # do something

answered Jul 17 '15 at 18:42

Lev Levitsky

63,701
20
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Iterate through List Python

3 Answers3