Operations on Arrays

Python

Accessing Elements

Use the index operator on a list to access values using an index. Note that index values start at 0.

>>> numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>> numbers[2]
3

Using an index that is out of bounds of the current range of values results in a runtime error.

>>> numbers[12]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
IndexError: list index out of range

List Length

To determine the number of items in a list, use the len function.

>>> len(numbers)
6

len is often used to determine the range of valid index values in a list. To avoid runtime errors it is good practice to iterate over a list with a range defined by the result of calling len instead of a hard coded constant.

>>> for i in range(len(numbers)):
...     print(numbers[i])
...
1
2
3
4
5
6

List Operations

To add to a list, use the append(x) method

>>> numbers.append(7)

To add (or concatenate) one list to another, use extend(iterable)

>>> numbers.extend([8, 9, 10])

To insert an item into a list at a given position. Here the value 11 is inserted at index position 10.

>>> numbers.insert(10, 11)

Use the remove(x) method to remove an item from a list. remove() takes a value as an argument and removes the first element in the list that matches the argument.

>>> numbers.remove(11)

Searching for the position of an element in a list is possible using the index(x)

>>> numbers.index(4)
3

List Membership

Use the in and not in operators to test for membership in a list.

>>> if 5 in numbers: print(True)
True
>>> if 30 not in numbers: print(True)
True

Python lists are mutable which means any element can be updated using the index operator along with an index position.

>>> numbers[0] = 22 # Updates first element in list to 22

Additional Resources:

• Lists
• List Operations

Swift

Accessing Elements

Accessing elements individually is generally done using subscript notation with index values starting at 0.

let numbers: [Int] = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
let firstValue = numbers[0]

You can subscript an array with any integer starting from 0 up to, but not including, the count of the array. Unlike languages like Python you cannot use a negative number or an index equal to or greater than count. This triggers a runtime error.

In addition to subscripting, there are several methods defined on the type that offer a degree of safety when accessing values. Use the first and last properties to get the first and last elements of an array.

Both these properties return optional values so you can guard against them instead of hitting a runtime error.

if let firstElement = numbers.first, let lastElement = numbers.last {
    print(firstElement, lastElement, separator: ", ")
}

To iterate over a the entire array use a `for-in` loop.

```swift
for number in numbers {
    print(number)
}

You can also call enumerated() on an array to return a sequence of pairs (n, x) where n representes the index value and x represents the element.

for (index, element) in numbers.enumerated() {
    print("Element \(element) is at index position \(index)")
}

Adding and Removing Elements

Arrays can only be modified if they are assigned to a variable and not a constant.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3]
numbers.append(4) // Cannot use mutating member on immutable value: 'numbers' is a 'let' constant

Use the append(_:) method to add values to the end of a variable array

var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
numbers.append(6)

When appending more than one value, you have several options. You can concatenate one array to another provided they are of the same type.

let numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
numbers + [6, 7, 8]

Notice that the concatenation operation is carried out an array assigned to a constant. This is because the concatenation operation does not mutate the original array and returns a new array containing values from both.

To mutate the array and add multiple elements at the same time by passing another array or a sequence use the append(contentsOf:) method.

var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
numbers.append(contentsOf: [6, 7 ,8])

All of these operations add elements to the end of an array. To insert an element in the middle of an array use the insert(_:at:) method for single elements or the insert(contentsOf:at:) method for multiple elements.

var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
numbers.insert(10, at: 2)
numbers.insert(contentsOf: [18, 22, 35], at: 4)

To remove elements from an array there are three options. To remove a single element at an index, use the remove(at:) method.

numbers.remove(at: 2)

To remove multiple elements use the removeSubrange(_:) method along with a range, either the half-open range operator (..<) or the closed range operator (...).

numbers.removeSubrange(3...6)
numbers.removeSubrange(3..<7)

Finally, you can use the convenience methods removeFirst() and removeLast() to remove the first and last elements in the array.

numbers.removeFirst() // 1
numbers.removeLast()

Querying An Array

To determine the number of elements in the array use the count property

let numbers = [1, 2, 3]
numbers.count // 3

To determine whether an array is empty use the isEmpty property

if numbers.isEmpty {
    // do something
}

Array Membership

To check whether an element exists in an array, use the contains(_:) method.

numbers.contains(2)

You can also use contains(where:) to search for an element that satisfies a predicate.

numbers.contains(where: { $0 % 2 == 0 })

To find the first instance of an element and return its index position use firstIndex(of:).

numbers.firstIndex(of: 10)

Similarly use lastIndex(of:) to return the last index where the specified value appears in the array.

Creating Array Slices

Often times you will want to extract or query only a portion of an array and you can do this using array slices. Array slices are created when a range is used with a subscript.

let someNumbers = numbers[2...6]

There are couple interesting points to array slices you should be aware of if you're coming from another language:

• Slicing an array returns a different type - ArraySlice. someNumber in the code snippet above is of type ArraySlice<Int>.
• ArraySlice, like Array is a generic type that infers the type of Element from the array it was dervied from. It cannot be used where the type Array is expected.
• In addition, array slices maintain index values of the parent array.

let numbers = [1, 2, 10, 3, 18, 22, 35, 4, 5]
let someNumbers = numbers[2...6] // [10, 3, 18, 22, 35]
someNumbers.firstIndex(of: 18)

In the code snippet above while it seems like firstIndex(of:) should return the value 2, the value returned is actually 4. This is becase someNumbers maintains the indices of its parent array. This is because array slices are acttually just views into an array.