How To Create Multiple List Dynamically In Python

In this tutorial, we will learn how to create multiple lists dynamically in Python. This can be useful in a variety of applications, where you need to manage and organize different sets of data.

By creating lists dynamically, you can work more efficiently and process large amounts of data as needed. Let’s explore the steps required to achieve this functionality in Python.

Step 1: Create a function to generate a list

First, we need to create a function that generates a list with specific requirements. This can be done using a user-defined function that takes the desired list length and a function to generate the list elements as arguments.

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def generate_list(length, generator_function):
    return [generator_function() for _ in range(length)]

This function uses a list comprehension to create a list of the desired length with elements generated by the passed generator function.

Step 2: Define the generator function

Next, we need to create the generator_function that will generate the elements for our list. For this example, we will create a simple random number generator function using the random module.

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import random
 
def random_number_generator():
    return random.randint(0, 100)

Step 3: Create a function to generate multiple lists

Now, we need to create a function that will generate multiple lists based on the input parameters. This function will take the number of lists to be created, the length of each list, and the generator function for the list’s elements as arguments.

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def generate_multiple_lists(num_of_lists, length, generator_function):
    return [generate_list(length, generator_function) for _ in range(num_of_lists)]

Using list comprehension, this function generates and returns a list of lists with the specified number of lists and list length, where each list element is generated using the provided generator function.

Step 4: Generate the dynamic, multiple lists

Now that our functions have been defined, we can use them to generate multiple lists dynamically with varying lengths and generator functions.

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num_of_lists = 3
length_of_each_list = 5
 
lists = generate_multiple_lists(num_of_lists, length_of_each_list, random_number_generator)
 
print("Generated lists:")
for i, lst in enumerate(lists):
    print(f"List {i+1}: {lst}")

In this example, we have created three lists with a length of five elements each, where each element is a random number generated by our random_number_generator function.

Output

Generated lists:
List 1: [83, 24, 67, 20, 68]
List 2: [93, 69, 48, 76, 31]
List 3: [68, 97, 45, 72, 78]

Full Code

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import random
 
def generate_list(length, generator_function):
    return [generator_function() for _ in range(length)]
 
def random_number_generator():
    return random.randint(0, 100)
 
def generate_multiple_lists(num_of_lists, length, generator_function):
    return [generate_list(length, generator_function) for _ in range(num_of_lists)]
 
num_of_lists = 3
length_of_each_list = 5
 
lists = generate_multiple_lists(num_of_lists, length_of_each_list, random_number_generator)
 
print("Generated lists:")
for i, lst in enumerate(lists):
    print(f"List {i+1}: {lst}")

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have learned how to create multiple lists dynamically in Python using user-defined functions and list comprehensions. We have created a utility function to generate a list of a given length, provided a generator_FUNCTION for the elements. Using this utility, we have further implemented a function that generates a specified number of lists using a similar approach.

Using this technique, you can create various dynamic lists based on your requirements, making it an essential tool to have in your Python toolkit when dealing with large amounts of data or various data sets.