TypeError: object of type 'map' has no len() in Python

TypeError: object of type 'map' has no len() in Python #

The Python "TypeError: object of type 'map' has no len()" occurs when we pass a map object to the len() function. To solve the error, convert the map object to a list before passing it to len, e.g. len(list(my_map)).

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

my_map = map(int, my_list)

# ⛔️ TypeError: object of type 'map' has no len()
print(len(my_map))

We can't pass a map object to the len() function but we can convert it to a list and get the length of the list.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

# ✅ convert to list
my_new_list = list(map(int, my_list))

print(len(my_new_list))  # 👉️ 3

The list class takes an iterable and returns a list object.

Note that passing the map object to the list class exhausts the iterator.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

my_map = map(int, my_list)

print(list(my_map))  # 👉️ [1, 2, 3]
print(list(my_map))  # 👉️ []

So if you convert a map object to a list, do it directly and not in multiple places.

The map() function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and calls the function with each item of the iterable.

When we pass an object to the len() function, the object's __len__() method is called.

You can use the dir() function to print an object's attributes and look for the __len__ attribute.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

my_map = map(int, my_list)

print(dir(my_map))

Or you can check using a try/except statement.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

my_map = map(int, my_list)

try:
    print(my_map.__len__)
except AttributeError:
    # 👇️ this runs
    print('object has no attribute __len__')

We try to access the object's __len__ attribute in the try block and if an AttributeError is raised, we know the object doesn't have a __len__ attribute and cannot be passed to the len() function.

The len() function returns the length (the number of items) of an object.

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my_list = ['apple', 'banana', 'kiwi']

result = len(my_list)

print(result)  # 👉️ 3

If you aren't sure what type a variable stores, use the built-in type() class.

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my_list = ['1', '2', '3']

print(type(my_list))  # 👉️ <class 'list'>
print(isinstance(my_list, list))  # 👉️ True

my_map = map(int, my_list)

print(type(my_map))  # 👉️ <class 'map'>
print(isinstance(my_map, map))  # 👉️ True

The type class returns the type of an object.

The isinstance function returns True if the passed in object is an instance or a subclass of the passed in class.

Conclusion #

The Python "TypeError: object of type 'map' has no len()" occurs when we pass a map object to the len() function. To solve the error, convert the map object to a list before passing it to len, e.g. len(list(my_map)).