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Python program to interchange first and last elements in a list

Last Updated : 25 Sep, 2024
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Given a list, write a Python program to swap the first and last element of the list using Python.

Examples: The last element of the list can be referred to as a list[-1]. Therefore, we can simply swap list[0] with list[-1].

Python
# Initialize a list my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] # Interchange first and last elements my_list[0], my_list[-1] = my_list[-1], my_list[0] # Print the modified list print("List after swapping first and last elements:", my_list) 

Output

List after swapping first and last elements: [5, 2, 3, 4, 1]

Interchange first and last elements using Temporary Value

Find the length of the list and simply swap the first element with (n-1)th element.

Python
# Swap function def swapList(newList): size = len(newList) # Swapping  temp = newList[0] newList[0] = newList[size - 1] newList[size - 1] = temp return newList # Driver code newList = [12, 35, 9, 56, 24] print(swapList(newList)) 

Output
[24, 35, 9, 56, 12] 

Swapping first and last items in a list using tuple variable

Swap the first and last element is using tuple variable. Store the first and last element as a pair in a tuple variable, say get, and unpack those elements with first and last element in that list. Now, the First and last values in that list are swapped. 

Python
# Swap function def swapList(list): # Storing the first and last element  # as a pair in a tuple variable get get = list[-1], list[0] # unpacking those elements list[0], list[-1] = get return list # Driver code newList = [12, 35, 9, 56, 24] print(swapList(newList)) 

Output
[24, 35, 9, 56, 12] 

Swap first and last values in a list in Python using * operand

This operand proposes a change to iterable unpacking syntax, allowing to specify a "catch-all" name which will be assigned a list of all items not assigned to a "regular" name. 

Python
list = [1, 2, 3, 4] a, *b, c = list print(a) print(b) print(c) 

Output
1 [2, 3] 4 

Now let's see the implementation of above approach: 

Python
# Swap function def swapList(list): start, *middle, end = list list = [end, *middle, start] return list # Driver code newList = [12, 35, 9, 56, 24] print(swapList(newList)) 

Output
[24, 35, 9, 56, 12] 

Swap first and last values in a list in Python using Slicing

In this approach, we first check if the list has at least 2 elements. If the list has at least 2 elements, we swap the first and last elements using Python slicing by assigning the value of the last element to the first element and the value of the first element to the last element. We then slice the list from the second element to the second-to-last element and concatenate it with a list containing the first element and the last element in their new positions.

Python
def swap_first_last_3(lst): # Check if list has at least 2 elements if len(lst) >= 2: # Swap the first and last elements using slicing lst = lst[-1:] + lst[1:-1] + lst[:1] return lst # Initializing the input inp=[12, 35, 9, 56, 24] # Printing the original input print("The original input is:",inp) result=swap_first_last_3(inp) # Printing the result print("The output after swap first and last is:",result) 

Output
The original input is: [12, 35, 9, 56, 24] The output after swap first and last is: [24, 35, 9, 56, 12] 

Time Complexity: O(1)
Space Complexity: O(1)


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