[python] Python: finding an element in a list

What is a good way to find the index of an element in a list in Python?
Note that the list may not be sorted.

Is there a way to specify what comparison operator to use?

Here is another way using list comprehension (some people might find it debatable). It is very approachable for simple tests, e.g. comparisons on object attributes (which I need a lot):

el = [x for x in mylist if x.attr == "foo"][0]

Of course this assumes the existence (and, actually, uniqueness) of a suitable element in the list.

From Dive Into Python:

>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> li.index("example")
5

how's this one?

def global_index(lst, test):
    return ( pair[0] for pair in zip(range(len(lst)), lst) if test(pair[1]) )

Usage:

>>> global_index([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], lambda x: x>3)
<generator object <genexpr> at ...>
>>> list(_)
[3, 4, 5]

There is the index method, i = array.index(value), but I don't think you can specify a custom comparison operator. It wouldn't be hard to write your own function to do so, though:

def custom_index(array, compare_function):
    for i, v in enumerate(array):
        if compare_function(v):
            return i

The index method of a list will do this for you. If you want to guarantee order, sort the list first using sorted(). Sorted accepts a cmp or key parameter to dictate how the sorting will happen:

a = [5, 4, 3]
print sorted(a).index(5)

Or:

a = ['one', 'aardvark', 'a']
print sorted(a, key=len).index('a')

I found this by adapting some tutos. Thanks to google, and to all of you ;)

def findall(L, test):
    i=0
    indices = []
    while(True):
        try:
            # next value in list passing the test
            nextvalue = filter(test, L[i:])[0]

            # add index of this value in the index list,
            # by searching the value in L[i:] 
            indices.append(L.index(nextvalue, i))

            # iterate i, that is the next index from where to search
            i=indices[-1]+1
        #when there is no further "good value", filter returns [],
        # hence there is an out of range exeption
        except IndexError:
            return indices

A very simple use:

a = [0,0,2,1]
ind = findall(a, lambda x:x>0))

[2, 3]

P.S. scuse my english

I use function for returning index for the matching element (Python 2.6):

def index(l, f):
     return next((i for i in xrange(len(l)) if f(l[i])), None)

Then use it via lambda function for retrieving needed element by any required equation e.g. by using element name.

element = mylist[index(mylist, lambda item: item["name"] == "my name")]

If i need to use it in several places in my code i just define specific find function e.g. for finding element by name:

def find_name(l, name):
     return l[index(l, lambda item: item["name"] == name)]

And then it is quite easy and readable:

element = find_name(mylist,"my name")

assuming you want to find a value in a numpy array, I guess something like this might work:

Numpy.where(arr=="value")[0]

If you just want to find out if an element is contained in the list or not:

>>> li
['a', 'b', 'new', 'mpilgrim', 'z', 'example', 'new', 'two', 'elements']
>>> 'example' in li
True
>>> 'damn' in li
False