Split a list every x items in Python

Split a list every x items in Python #

To split a list every x items:

Use the range() class to iterate over a range with step X.
On each iteration, return a list slice from the current index until the index + X.

main.py

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']

n = 2

result = [
    my_list[idx:idx+n] for idx in range(0, len(my_list), n)
]

# 👇️ [['a', 'b'], ['c', 'd'], ['e', 'f'], ['g', 'h'], ['i', 'j']]
print(result)

We used the range() class to iterate over a range with a step of N.

main.py

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']


n = 2

# 👇️ [0, 2, 4, 6, 8]
print(list(range(0, len(my_list), n)))

The range class is commonly used for looping a specific number of times in for loops and takes the following parameters:

Name	Description
`start`	An integer representing the start of the range (defaults to `0`)
`stop`	Go up to, but not including the provided integer
`step`	Range will consist of every N numbers from `start` to `stop` (defaults to `1`)

The indexes in the range are the indexes of the first list item in each nested list.

On each iteration we get a slice that starts at the current index and ends at the current index + N.

The example above uses a list comprehension to iterate over the range.

List comprehensions are used to perform some operation for every element, or select a subset of elements that meet a condition.

You can also use a for loop to achieve the same result.

main.py

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j']


n = 2


result = []

for idx in range(0, len(my_list), n):
    result.append(my_list[idx:idx+n])

# 👇️ [['a', 'b'], ['c', 'd'], ['e', 'f'], ['g', 'h'], ['i', 'j']]
print(result)

This for loop is the equivalent of the list comprehension we previously used.

Split a list every x items in Python

Split a list every x items in Python #

Borislav Hadzhiev