How to append elements to a list in python

Question

totalNum = int(input("No of people?"))
for i in range(1,totalNum+1):

    name_list = []
    name = input("Name?")
    name_list.append(name)
print(name_list)

In the end, when I tried to print all the elements in the list, only the last element was printed.

You could use `range(totalNum)` in place of `range(1,totalNum+1)`. You will have a moment of epiphany. — shahkalpesh, Jan 30 '19 at 08:07

DirtyBit · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-30T08:11:10.797

1

You need to create the list name_list = [] outside the loop, not every time within the loop:

Ps. with a little change to your range():

name_list = []

totalNum = int(input("No of people?"))
for i in range(totalNum):   
    name = input("Name?")
    name_list.append(name)
print(name_list)

edited Jan 30 '19 at 08:11

answered Jan 30 '19 at 08:06

DirtyBit

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 30 '19 at 08:10

The problem with your code is that you are re-initializing the list in every iteration and hence once the loop is done the last list is printed.

Here is the fixed version of the code

totalNum = int(input("No of people?"))
name_list = []
for _ in range(totalNum):
    name = input("Name?")
    name_list.append(name)
print(name_list)

Also note the use of _ here, it is a special throw away variable in python which you use if just need a dummy variable to loop over a sequence.

Also you don't need to initialize the range like range(1,totalNum+1), since python sequences always start from 0 you can do range(totalNum).

How to append elements to a list in python

2 Answers2