Python program to Remove the last element from list

Python program to Remove the last element from list

In this tutorial, we'll learn how to remove the last element from a list in Python.

Scenario: Given a list like:

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

After removing the last element, the resulting list should be:

[1, 2, 3, 4]

Steps:

  • Use Python's list slicing mechanism to exclude the last element.

Python Code:

def remove_last_element(lst): """ Removes the last element from the list. :param lst: Input list. :return: Modified list without the last element. """ return lst[:-1] # Example usage: numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] modified_numbers = remove_last_element(numbers) print(modified_numbers) # This should display [1, 2, 3, 4]

Explanation:

  • We define the function remove_last_element that takes a list lst as its argument. Using list slicing, we return all elements of the list except for the last one. The syntax lst[:-1] achieves this. It starts from the beginning of the list and goes up to, but does not include, the last element.
  • In the example usage, we call the remove_last_element function on our list of numbers and print the result.

This method is efficient and idiomatic in Python. If you need to remove the last element from a list frequently, consider using Python's built-in pop() method, which also returns the last element before removing it:

numbers.pop() print(numbers) # This will print [1, 2, 3, 4]

Note: The pop() method modifies the list in-place, whereas the list slicing method returns a new list without altering the original list.

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