python method

You would use a python method when dealing with an object/class. It allows you to process data relating to the object and can be inherited.

Python Python Lists python method type error 

TypeError: ‘list’ object is not an iterator

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We have covered off many TypeErrors on this website, here we will go through which using a list with and it is not an iterator gives you errors.

In order to understand this error better, we need to first understand what is an iterator in Python?

An iterator is a Python object that has the following characteristics:

  • You can count the no of values that are contained within it.
  • It also can be iterated through, so you need to apply an iteration method to it.

How does this error occur?

Normally this error occurs when you try to iterate over a list, but you have not made the list iterable.

There are two things required to make this happen:

(A) The iter() returns an iterator object

(B) The next() method moves to the next value.

Without both the code will fail and the error you are about will occur!

In the below code we have a list:

a = ['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y']

with the following:

b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)

As can be seen in the above code we have one component for the iteration , we expect two as per the above.

As a result we get the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "list_object_is_not_an_iterator.py", line 13, in <module>
    b = next(a)
TypeError: 'list' object is not an iterator

In order to fix this ,all we need to do is apply the iterator to the list as follows:

a = iter(['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y']) ====> We added in the iter() here, enclosing the list within it

b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
#b = next(a)


print(b)

Giving output:
y

As a result of this, we now have the two required methods that will not give this error.

What is going on within the iterator?

In the above code we have asked to print b. What the iterator is doing is going to the first value of b, in this case q and print.

But because we have a variable b on multiple lines, with the method “next()” in it, the logic is moving through each value of the list till it gets to the end.

What can be done though is , reduce the length of the returned b variables to print as follows:

a = iter(['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y'])
b = next(a)
print(b)
returns:
q

BUT
a = iter(['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y'])
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
print(b)
returns:
w

As can be seen it returns the next value in the list. You can keep adding the b variables.

What happens when you get to the end of the list?

So now we have the below, and we are returning the last value:

a = iter(['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y'])
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)

Returns:
y

The reason for this is that we have the required no of variables with the next method, which equals the length of the list.

If we add in one more b variable:

a = iter(['q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y'])
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a)
b = next(a) ===> Additional b variable

Returns: 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "list_object_is_not_an_iterator.py", line 19, in <module>
    b = next(a)
StopIteration

The purpose of StopIteration is to not allow a continuous loop and recognise that the end of the list has been reached.

Implementing Iterators

Iterators could be used in the following circumstances:

(A) You have a defined list of object values to work with.

(B) If sequence is important an iterator will help to process values in the order they appear in a list.

python method strings 

String Manipulation in Python

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Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Are you working with strings and need to quickly alter them so they look correct? We are going to take you through the following manipulations so you can quickly upskill on how to better manage them.

Python offers some very easy to use methods, which make the process of getting what you want the data to look like easier.

Find the length of a string

# Find the length of a string
text = "Fetchme"
print("Length is:", len(text))

result is: ===> Length is: 7

How to split a string variable – using one split value

text = "Hello,what is your name."
splittext = text.split(",") ==> One split value assigned.
print(splittext)

result is: ===> ['Hello', 'what is your name.']

How to split a string variable – use more than one split value

text = "Hello,what is your name;My name is joe;test"
print(re.split(r'[,.;]', text)) ==> Notice that what you want to split on is between the [] brackets.

result is: ===> ['Hello', 'what is your name', 'My name is joe', 'test']

Find any character in a string

text = "Hello,what is your name."
print("First character is:", text[0])
print("Fifth character is:", text[5])
print("Sixth character is:", text[6])

result:
First character is: H
Fifth character is: ,
Sixth character is: w

Print a string in an upper or lower case

text = "Joe"
print("Upper case:", str.upper(text)) #upper case
print("Lower case:",str.lower(text)) #lower case

result:
Upper case: JOE
Lower case: joe

Concatenation of a string

first = "rainy"
last = "day"
name = first + last
print(name)

the result is: rainyday

Testing a string value returns a Boolean value

testword = "abc123XSWb"
digits = "123"
print(testword.isalnum()) #check if all characters are alphanumeric
print(testword.isalpha()) #check if all characters in the string are alphabetic
print(digits.isdigit()) #test if string contains digits only
print(testword.istitle()) #test if string contains title words
print(testword.isupper()) #test if string contains upper case
print(testword.islower()) #test if string contains lower case
print(testword.isspace()) #test if string contains spaces
print(testword.endswith('b')) #test if string endswith a b
print(testword.startswith('H')) #test if string startswith H

result:
True
False
True
False
False
False
False
True
False

python method 

python sort method

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Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Why would you sort a list?

It allows efficiency in other algorithms to quickly find data in the list that is used as an input to their code, examples include searching and merging data.

Also, can be used to standardize the data set so that it can have a meaningful representation.

For data visualization purposes having it in order can allow the viewer quickly to attach meaning to what they see in front of them.

There are different sorting techniques as follows:

  • Bubble Sort Algorithm is used to arrange N elements in ascending order.
  • Selection sort is a straightforward process of sorting values. In this method, you sort the data in ascending order.
  • Merge sort splits two lists into a comparable size, sorts them, and then merges them back together.

According to the  Python Organisation website, Python lists have a built-in list.sort() the method that modifies the list in-place.

mylist = [5, 2, 3, 1, 4]
mylist.sort()
print(mylist)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

This method only works for lists.

It also has a very similar method sorted() , which, unlike list.sort, can work on any iterable.

a= {'c':'1','b':'2','a':'3'}

print(sorted(a))
['a', 'b', 'c']

Note that the sorted method only sorts the key value in the dictionary above.

Per programiz.com parameters for the sorted() function are as follows:

sorted() can take a maximum of three parameters:

  • iterable – A sequence (string, tuple, list) or collection (set, dictionary, frozen set) or any other iterator.
  • reverse (Optional) – If, the sorted list is reversed (or sorted in descending order). Defaults to if not provided.
  • key (Optional) – A function that serves as a key for the sort comparison. Defaults to None.

Click how to sort lists in python to get a video tutorial on the above, which may help to explain the concepts further.