[python] TypeError: 'list' object is not callable while trying to access a list

I am trying to run this code where I have a list of lists. I need to add to inner lists, but I get the error

TypeError: 'list' object is not callable.

Can anyone tell me what am I doing wrong here.

def createlists():
    global maxchar
    global minchar
    global worddict
    global wordlists

    for i in range(minchar, maxchar + 1):
        wordlists.insert(i, list())
    #add data to list now
    for words in worddict.keys():
        print words
        print  wordlists(len(words)) # <--- Error here.
        (wordlists(len(words))).append(words)  # <-- Error here too
        print "adding word " + words + " at " + str(wordlists(len(words)))
    print wordlists(5)

This question is related to python callable

The answer is


To get elements of a list you have to use list[i] instead of list(i).


Even I got the same error, but I solved it, I had used many list in my work so I just restarted my kernel (meaning if you are using a notebook such as Jupyter or Google Colab you can just restart and again run all the cells, by doing this your problem will be solved and the error vanishes.

Thank you.


wordlists is not a function, it is a list. You need the bracket subscript

print  wordlists[len(words)]

Check your file name in which you have saved your program. If the file name is wordlists then you will get an error. Your filename should not be same as any of methods{functions} that you use in your program.


You are attempting to call wordlists here:

print  wordlists(len(words)) <--- Error here.

Try:

print wordlists[len(words)]

I also got the error when I called a function that had the same name as another variable that was classified as a list.

Once I sorted out the naming the error was resolved.


Try wordlists[len(words)]. () is a function call. When you do wordlists(..), python thinks that you are calling a function called wordlists which turns out to be a list. Hence the error.


del list

above command worked for me