Python – Alternate List elements
Given 2 lists, print the element in zig-zag manner, i.e print similar indices of lists and then proceed to next.
Input : test_list1 = [5, 3, 1], test_list2 = [6, 4, 2]
Output : [5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4]
Explanation : 5 and 6, as in 0th index are printed first, then 3 and 4 on 1st index, and so on.Input : test_list1 = [5, 3, 1, 9], test_list2 = [6, 4, 2, 10]
Output : [5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 9, 10]
Explanation : 5 and 6, as in 0th index are printed first, then 3 and 4 on 1st index, and so on.
Method #1 : Using loop
This is one of the ways in which this task can be performed. In this we plainly perform iteration and append the similar index elements one after another in result list.
Python3
# Python3 code to demonstrate working of # Alternate List elements # Using loop # initializing lists test_list1 = [ 5 , 3 , 1 , 4 , 7 ] test_list2 = [ 6 , 4 , 2 , 5 , 1 ] # printing original lists print ( "The original list 1 : " + str (test_list1)) print ( "The original list 2 : " + str (test_list2)) # Using loop to print elements in criss cross manner res = [] for idx in range ( 0 , len (test_list1)): res.append(test_list1[idx]) res.append(test_list2[idx]) # printing result print ( "The zig-zag printing of elements : " + str (res)) |
The original list 1 : [5, 3, 1, 4, 7] The original list 2 : [6, 4, 2, 5, 1] The zig-zag printing of elements : [5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 1]
Time complexity: O(n)
Auxiliary Space: O(n)
Method #2 : Using zip() + loop
The combination of above functions can be used to solve this problem. In this, we pair each element with similar index using zip() and then each element is fed into result list using loop.
Python3
# Python3 code to demonstrate working of # Alternate List elements # Using zip() + loop # initializing lists test_list1 = [ 5 , 3 , 1 , 4 , 7 ] test_list2 = [ 6 , 4 , 2 , 5 , 1 ] # printing original lists print ( "The original list 1 : " + str (test_list1)) print ( "The original list 2 : " + str (test_list2)) # Using zip() to perform pairing and loop to # get elements into result list res = [] for ele1, ele2 in zip (test_list1, test_list2): res.append(ele1) res.append(ele2) # printing result print ( "The zig-zag printing of elements : " + str (res)) |
The original list 1 : [5, 3, 1, 4, 7] The original list 2 : [6, 4, 2, 5, 1] The zig-zag printing of elements : [5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 1]
Time complexity: O(n*n), where n is the length of the test_list. The zip() + loop takes O(n*n) time
Auxiliary Space: O(n), extra space of size n is required
Method #3 : Using itertools module
step-by-step implementation of algorithm
- Import the itertools module
- Initialize two lists test_list1 and test_list2
- Using zip function to combine the elements of the list’s element by element and create a list of tuples. And store them in combined_list
- Use the itertools.chain function to concatenate the tuples in the combined_list into a single list, we used “*” operator unpacks the list of tuples into separate arguments.
- Store the concatenated list in the variable result
- Print the result list.
Python3
import itertools # Test lists to combine test_list1 = [ 5 , 3 , 1 , 4 , 7 ] test_list2 = [ 6 , 4 , 2 , 5 , 1 ] # Use the zip function to combine the elements of the two lists # element-wise and create a list of tuples combined_list = list ( zip (test_list1, test_list2)) # Use the itertools.chain function to concatenate the tuples # in the combined_list into a single list result = list (itertools.chain( * combined_list)) # Print the result print (result) |
[5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 1]
Time complexity: O(n)
Auxiliary space: O(n)