How to Concatenate Two Lists in Python

To concatenate two lists in Python:

(1) Using the + operator:

list_one = ["item1", "item2", "item3", ...]
list_two = ["item1", "item2", "item3", ...]

concatenated_list = list_one + list_two

print(concatenated_list)

(2) Using extend:

list_one = ["item1", "item2", "item3", ...]
list_two = ["item1", "item2", "item3", ...]

list_one.extend(list_two)

print(list_one)

The Steps

Step 1: Create two Lists

To begin with a simple example, create two lists that contain string values:

list_one = ["Banana", "Apple", "Mango", "Watermelon", "Pear"]
list_two = ["Blueberry", "Cherry", "Pineapple", "Papaya", "Coconut"]

print(list_one)
print(list_two)

Run the code in Python, and you’ll get these two lists:

['Banana', 'Apple', 'Mango', 'Watermelon', 'Pear']
['Blueberry', 'Cherry', 'Pineapple', 'Papaya', 'Coconut']

Step 2: Concatenate the two Python Lists using the + operator

You can use the + operator in order to concatenate the two lists:

list_one = ["Banana", "Apple", "Mango", "Watermelon", "Pear"]
list_two = ["Blueberry", "Cherry", "Pineapple", "Papaya", "Coconut"]

concatenated_list = list_one + list_two

print(concatenated_list)

As you can see, the two lists are now concatenated:

['Banana', 'Apple', 'Mango', 'Watermelon', 'Pear', 'Blueberry', 'Cherry', 'Pineapple', 'Papaya', 'Coconut']

Using Extend

Alternatively, you can use extend to concatenate the two lists:

list_one = ["Banana", "Apple", "Mango", "Watermelon", "Pear"]
list_two = ["Blueberry", "Cherry", "Pineapple", "Papaya", "Coconut"]

list_one.extend(list_two)

print(list_one)

The result:

['Banana', 'Apple', 'Mango', 'Watermelon', 'Pear', 'Blueberry', 'Cherry', 'Pineapple', 'Papaya', 'Coconut']

Concatenate More Than Two Lists

You can also use the + operator to concatenate multiple lists.

For example, to concatenate the following 4 lists:

list_one = ["Banana", "Apple", "Mango"]
list_two = ["Watermelon", "Pear"]
list_three = ["Blueberry", "Cherry"]
list_four = ["Pineapple", "Papaya", "Coconut"]

concatenated_list = list_one + list_two + list_three + list_four

print(concatenated_list)

The result:

['Banana', 'Apple', 'Mango', 'Watermelon', 'Pear', 'Blueberry', 'Cherry', 'Pineapple', 'Papaya', 'Coconut']

Check the following guide to learn more about creating a list in Python.