Remove all Empty Strings from a List of Strings in Python

# Table of Contents

1. Remove empty strings from a list of Strings in Python
2. Remove all empty elements from a list in Python

# Remove empty strings from a list of Strings in Python

Use a list comprehension to remove the empty strings from a list of strings.

The list comprehension will return a new list that doesn't contain any empty strings.

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my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']

new_list = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

The example uses a list comprehension to remove the empty strings from a list.

On each iteration, we check if the current item is truthy and return the result.

Copied!
my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']

new_list = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

Empty strings are falsy values, so they get filtered out.

The list comprehension creates a new list, it doesn't mutate the original list.

# Remove empty strings from a list of Strings with reassignment

If you want to remove the empty strings from the original list, use list slicing.

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my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']

my_list[:] = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

We used the my_list[:] syntax to get a slice that represents the entire list, so we can assign to the variable directly.

This approach changes the contents of the original list.

Alternatively, you can use the filter() function.

# Remove empty strings from a list of Strings using filter()

This is a three-step process:

1. Use the filter() function to filter out the empty strings.
2. Use the list() class to convert the filter object to a list.
3. The new list won't contain any empty strings.

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my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']


new_list = list(filter(None, my_list))
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

We used the filter() function to remove the empty strings from a list.

The filter() function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and constructs an iterator from the elements of the iterable for which the function returns a truthy value.

An empty string is a falsy value, so all empty strings get removed.

The last step is to use the list() class to convert the filter object to a list.

Alternatively, you can use a for loop.

# Remove empty strings from a list of Strings using for loop

This is a three-step process:

1. Use a for loop to iterate over a copy of the list.
2. On each iteration, check if the current item is an empty string.
3. Use the list.remove() method to remove the empty strings.

Copied!
my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']


for item in my_list.copy():
    if item == '':
        my_list.remove(item)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

We used the list.copy() method to get a copy of the list.

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my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']

# 👇️ ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']
print(my_list.copy())

The list.copy() method returns a shallow copy of the object on which the method was called.

However, we can iterate over a copy of the list and remove items from the original list.

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my_list = ['bobby', '', 'hadz', '', 'com', '']

for item in my_list.copy():
    if item == '':
        my_list.remove(item)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

The list.remove() method removes the first item from the list whose value is equal to the passed-in argument.

The remove() method mutates the original list and returns None.

The most important thing to note when removing items from a list in a for loop is to use the list.copy() method to iterate over a copy of the list.

If you try to iterate over the original list and remove items from it, you might run into difficult-to-locate bugs.

# Remove all empty elements from a list in Python

You can also use a list comprehension to remove all empty elements from a list.

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# ✅ Remove empty elements from a list (using list comprehension)

my_list = ['a', '', [], (), None, 'b', '', 'c']

new_list = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

The example uses a list comprehension to remove the falsy values from a list.

Copied!
my_list = ['a', '', [], (), None, 'b', '', 'c']

new_list = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

On each iteration, we check if the current item is truthy and return the result.

All values that are not truthy are considered falsy. The falsy values in Python are:

• constants defined to be falsy: None and False.
• 0 (zero) of any numeric type
• empty sequences and collections: "" (empty string), () (empty tuple), [] (empty list), {} (empty dictionary), set() (empty set), range(0) (empty range).

The list comprehension creates a new list, it doesn't mutate the original list.

# Remove all empty elements from a list with reassignment

If you want to remove the empty elements from the original list, use list slicing.

Copied!
my_list = ['a', '', [], (), None, 'b', '', 'c']

my_list[:] = [item for item in my_list if item]
print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

We used the my_list[:] syntax to get a slice that represents the entire list, so we can assign to the variable directly.

This approach changes the contents of the original list.

# Remove all empty elements from a list using filter()

Alternatively, you can use the filter() function.

Copied!
my_list = ['a', '', [], (), None, 'b', '', 'c']


new_list = list(filter(None, my_list))
print(new_list)  # 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

We used the filter() function to remove the empty elements from a list.

The filter function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and constructs an iterator from the elements of the iterable for which the function returns a truthy value.

The last step is to use the list() class to convert the filter object to a list.

# Remove all empty elements from a list using a for loop

Alternatively, you can use a for loop.

Copied!
my_list = ['a', '', [], (), None, 'b', '', 'c']


for item in my_list.copy():
    if not item:
        my_list.remove(item)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['a', 'b', 'c']

The list.remove() method removes the first item from the list whose value is equal to the passed-in argument.

The remove() method mutates the original list and returns None.

The most important thing to note when removing items from a list in a for loop is to use the list.copy() method to iterate over a copy of the list.

If you try to iterate over the original list and remove items from it, you might run into difficult-to-locate bugs.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• Remove a Dictionary from a List of Dictionaries in Python
• Remove duplicates from a List of Dictionaries in Python
• Remove elements from a List based on a condition in Python
• Remove first or last N elements from a List in Python
• Remove the Max and Min numbers from a List in Python
• Remove Newline characters from a List or a String in Python