Python Iterable

Question

I have a question that goes "Make a function named first_4 that accepts an iterable as an argument and returns the first 4 items in the iterable." and am stuck on what to do. How do I make the iterable?

Nyasha Chawanda · Accepted Answer

you can try this 
def man(iterable):
    return iterable[:4]
this will take an argument which is iterable and return the first four values of that iterable

Chris Freeman · Answer

In iterable is anything that can be iterated upon.  Such as a list, str, tuple.  See docs: iterable (https://docs.python.org/2/glossary.html#term-iterable)
If you just want the first for items you can use the indexing [:4], such as:
```python
In [8]: tup = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
In [9]: tup[:4]
Out[9]: (1, 2, 3, 4)
```
If you want to use a function:
```python
In [10]: def first_4(iterable):
   ....:     return iterable[:4]
   ....: 
In [11]: first_4(tup)
Out[11]: (1, 2, 3, 4)
```
You could also create a for-loop and inspect each item if you need operate on each item individually:
```python
In [15]: def first_4(iterable):
    for item in range(4):
        # operate on item
        print(iterable[item])
   ....:         
In [16]: first_4(tup)
1
2
3
4

Larissa Banitt · Answer

This is what I entered, but it isn't working:
first_4 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
first_4  [:4]

Robert Richey · Answer

Hi Larissa,
That's describing what kind of data will be passed to your function. So, your function will receive an iterable object, which means you can put it in a loop and look at each element.
```python
my_list = [1, 2, 3]  # this is an iterable
function with a silly name that accepts one argument - which I am choosing to call itr, for iterable
def foo(itr):
  for element in itr:
    # lets see what's inside itr!
    print(element)
```
Hope this helps!
Cheers

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Larissa Banitt

Larissa Banitt

Python Iterable

4 Answers

Nyasha Chawanda

Nyasha Chawanda

this will take an argument which is iterable and return the first four values of that iterable

Larissa Banitt

Larissa Banitt

Chris Freeman

Chris Freeman

Robert Richey

Robert Richey

Larissa Banitt

Larissa Banitt

Chris Freeman

Chris Freeman

Larissa Banitt

Larissa Banitt

Chris Freeman

Chris Freeman