2.8 List operations

You can perform many of the same operations on lists as you can on strings, including slicing.

years = [2021, 1983, 1976, 1997, 1990]
years

[2021, 1983, 1976, 1997, 1990]

len(years)

5

years[0]

2021

years[-2]

1997

years[1:3]

[1983, 1976]

A major difference between strings and lists is that you can change the items in a list: lists are mutable.

years[0] = 2000
years

[2000, 1983, 1976, 1997, 1990]

With strings, you must construct a new and different string with any alterations. Strings are immutable, meaning that you cannot change their structure or contents. I can have a variable point to a new string, but I cannot change the string object itself.

letters = "abcd"
letters

'abcd'

letters[0] = "A"

TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment

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