When you’re out shopping, you probably don’t carry each item in your hands — you use a basket. That’s what lists are in Python — containers that hold a bunch of stuff under one name.

🧺 Let’s Pack a List

Want to store some dogs’ names?

dogs = ["Roger", "Syd"]

Boom. That’s a list. You can keep mixing things up too:

items = ["Roger", 1, "Syd", True]

Lists are chill — they don’t care if you mix strings, numbers, or booleans.

🔍 Searching Inside Your List

Want to check if "Roger" is chilling in items?

print("Roger" in items)  # True

Python politely answers: “Yes, boss.”

🔢 Indexing: Numbers Matter

Lists start counting at zero (not one). That means:

items[0]  # "Roger"
items[1]  # 1
items[-1] # True (last item)

Need to change something?

items[0] = "Roggy"

Now "Roger" is "Roggy".

🎯 Finding Item Positions

Where is "Syd"?

items.index("Syd")  # 2

Indexes help you grab or target items — like GPS for your list.

✂️ Slicing: Cut Out What You Need

Slice like a pro:

items[0:2]  # ['Roger', 1]
items[2:]   # ['Syd', True]

You’re not copying — you’re slicing.

📏 How Big Is Your List?

len(items)  # 4

Size check complete.

➕ Adding Items

Three ways to add stuff:

items.append("Test")
items.extend(["Test"])
items += ["Test"]

⚠️ Careful here:

items += "Test"  # BAD! You’ll get ['T', 'e', 's', 't']

Use square brackets!

❌ Removing Stuff

Want to kick "Test" out?

items.remove("Test")

Gone. Like it was never there.

🎯 Insert Anywhere

items.insert(1, "Test")  # Adds "Test" at position 1

Multiple items?

items[1:1] = ["Test1", "Test2"]

Nice trick, right?

🧹 Sorting Things Out

Want things in order?

items.sort()

But careful — you can’t mix numbers and strings here.

To fix letter cases:

items.sort(key=str.lower)

Want to keep the original and just see a sorted version?

sorted_items = sorted(items, key=str.lower)
print(sorted_items)

🧠 Practice Time!

Try these 5 questions below 👇

1.

Create a list with the following items: "Apple", "Banana", 3, and False. Print the length of the list.

2.

Check if "Banana" exists in the list. If it does, print its index.

3.

Change "Apple" to "Mango" using indexing.

4.

Add "Orange" and "Pineapple" to the end of the list.

5.

Sort only the string values in the list. (Hint: Separate strings first or make a new list with only strings.)

Lists are a must-know in Python — like your best buddy that holds your stuff while you code away.

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