To modify an item within a list in Python:
list_name[Index of the item to be modified] = "New value for the item"Where the index of the first item in the list is zero, and then increases sequentially.
Steps to Modify an Item Within a List in Python
Step 1: Create a List
To start, create a list in Python. For example:
list_names = ["Jon", "Bill", "Maria", "Jenny", "Jack"]
print(list_names)
Run the code in Python, and you’ll get this list:
['Jon', 'Bill', 'Maria', 'Jenny', 'Jack']Step 2: Modify an Item within the list
For example, to modify the third item (index of 2) in the list from “Maria” to “Mona“:
list_names[2] = "Mona"
So the complete Python code to change the third item from Maria to Mona is:
list_names = ["Jon", "Bill", "Maria", "Jenny", "Jack"]
list_names[2] = "Mona"
print(list_names)
Notice that the third item changed from Maria to Mona:
['Jon', 'Bill', 'Mona', 'Jenny', 'Jack']Change Multiple Items Within a List
What if you want to change multiple items within your list?
For instance, to change the last 3 names in the original list:
- From “Maria” to “Mona”
- From “Jenny” to “Lina”
- From “Jack” to “Mark”
In that case, specify the range of index (range of 2:5) to change the last 3 names in the list:
list_names = ["Jon", "Bill", "Maria", "Jenny", "Jack"]
list_names[2:5] = "Mona", "Lina", "Mark"
print(list_names)
You’ll now see the updated list with the 3 new names:
['Jon', 'Bill', 'Mona', 'Lina', 'Mark']You can get the same same results using list_names[-3:]:
list_names = ["Jon", "Bill", "Maria", "Jenny", "Jack"]
list_names[-3:] = "Mona", "Lina", "Mark"
print(list_names)
And as before, you’ll now see the updated list with the 3 new names:
['Jon', 'Bill', 'Mona', 'Lina', 'Mark']