Confusing isalpha() results

Question

Hi guys,

I've been experimenting with the isalpha() and remove() from list, and I'm getting some confusing results.

In my experiment, I made a list with alphas and non-alphas and wanted to loop through the list and remove everything that isalpha.

Here's a chunk of code that's been bothering me:

new_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']

for char in new_list:
    try:
        if char.isalpha():
            print ("Remove {}".format(char))
    except:
        print ("keep {}".format(char))


keep 1
keep 2
keep 3
keep 4
Remove a
Remove b
Remove c
Remove d
 for char in new_list:
    try:
        if char.isalpha():
            new_list.remove(char)
            print ("Remove {}".format(char))
    except:
        print ("keep {}".format(char))


keep 1
keep 2
keep 3
keep 4
Remove a
Remove c
new_list
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'b', 'd']

If the first loop that just prints out the list works, how come the remove() function isn't working as expected?

I've been scratching my head over this one!

Thanks,

Tayler

Answer 1 · 2016-02-01T02:23:45Z

February 1, 2016 2:23am

Hey Tayler, this was definitely a tricky one. I added some extra prints to explain why it skips characters 'b' and 'd'

def main():
    new_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']

    for index, elem in enumerate(new_list):
        try:
            if elem.isalpha():
                new_list.remove(elem)
                print('Remove {} at index {}'.format(elem, index))
        except:
            print('Keep {} at index {}'.format(elem, index))
        print(new_list)

    print('After for loop')
    print(new_list)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

when you run python code, it prints the following:

Keep 1 at index 0
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
Keep 2 at index 1
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
Keep 3 at index 2
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
Keep 4 at index 3
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
Remove a at index 4
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'b', 'c', 'd']
Remove c at index 5
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'b', 'd']
After for loop
[1, 2, 3, 4, 'b', 'd']

As you can see it runs perfectly until it removes 'a' which is at index 4. Once you remove 'a' from new_list, everything in new_list shifts to the left by 1, therefore 'b' is now at index 4. However the for loop has already gone past index 4 and now moves onto the next index which happens to 5, as a result it misses 'b' and does not remove it from the list. Same thing happens to 'd'. Once it has removed 'c' which is at index 5, it mores everything in new_list to the left by 1. Therefore it misses 'd' which is at index 5 and exits the for loop.

My suggestion is to never modify the original list (new_list) that you are currently looping over. A better approach would be to create an empty list which gets populated in the for loop. In code it looks like this:

def main():
    new_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    updated_list = []
    for index, elem in enumerate(new_list):
        try:
            if elem.isalpha():
                print('Remove {} at index {}'.format(elem, index))
        except:
            print('Keep {} at index {}'.format(elem, index))
            updated_list.append(elem)

    print('After for loop')
    print(updated_list)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

This produces:

Keep 1 at index 0
Keep 2 at index 1
Keep 3 at index 2
Keep 4 at index 3
Remove a at index 4
Remove b at index 5
Remove c at index 6
Remove d at index 7
After for loop
[1, 2, 3, 4]

I hope this explains the abnormal situation you were facing. :)

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Tayler Kemsley

Tayler Kemsley

Confusing isalpha() results

1 Answer

Anish Walawalkar

Anish Walawalkar

Tayler Kemsley

Tayler Kemsley