Is there a method like .replace() for list in python?

Question

i've made a list out of a string using .split() method. For example: string = " I like chicken" i will use .split() to make a list of words in the string ['I','like','chicken'] Now if i want to replace 'chicken' with something else, what method i can use that is like .replace() but for a list?

score 28 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 14 '20 at 07:39

28

There’s nothing built-in, but it’s just a loop to do the replacement in-place:

for i, word in enumerate(words):
    if word == 'chicken':
        words[i] = 'broccoli'

or a shorter option if there’s always exactly one instance:

words[words.index('chicken')] = 'broccoli'

or a list comprehension to create a new list:

new_words = ['broccoli' if word == 'chicken' else word for word in words]

any of which can be wrapped up in a function:

def replaced(sequence, old, new):
    return (new if x == old else x for x in sequence)


new_words = list(replaced(words, 'chicken', 'broccoli'))

edited Jan 14 '20 at 07:39

amad-person

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answered Mar 30 '17 at 02:11

Ry-

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What if I want to change only partial part of the word and my list has more than 2 parts in the value? – PM0087 Apr 18 '21 at 14:22

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '17 at 02:10

No such method exists, but a list comprehension can be adapted to the purpose easily, no new methods on list needed:

words = 'I like chicken'.split()
replaced = ['turkey' if wd == "chicken" else wd for wd in words]
print(replaced)

Which outputs: ['I', 'like', 'turkey']

Is there a method like .replace() for list in python?

2 Answers2

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