Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04, Eighth Edition

Lists

Python’s built-in list data type is a sequence, like strings. However, they are mutable, which means you can change them. Lists are like arrays in that they hold a selection of elements in a given order. You can cycle through them, index into them, and slice them:

>>> mylist = ["python", "perl", "php"]>>> mylist['python', 'perl', 'php']>>> mylist + ["java"]["python", 'perl', 'php', 'java']>>> mylist * 2['python', 'perl', 'php', 'python', 'perl', 'php']>>> mylist[1]'perl'>>> mylist[1] = "c++">>> mylist[1]'c++'>>> mylist[1:3]['c++', 'php']

The brackets notation is important: You cannot use parentheses, (( and )) or braces ({ and }) for lists. Using + for lists is different from using + for numbers. Python detects that you are working with ...