Python – Remove element from Lists

Python Lists have various in-built methods to remove items from the list. Apart from these, we can also use different methods to remove an element from the list by specifying a position using Python.

Delete an element from a list using the del 

The Python del statement is not a function of List. Items of the list can be deleted using the del statement by specifying the index of the item (element) to be deleted. 

• Python3

lst = ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender',
    'Lily', 'Carnations']
print("Original List is :", lst)
 
# using del statement
# to delete item (Orchids at index 1)
# from the list
del lst[1]
print("After deleting the item :", lst)

Output

Original List is : ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']
After deleting the item : ['Iris', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']

Remove an item from a list using list comprehension

In this method, we are using list comprehension. Here, we are appending all the elements except the elements that have to be removed.

• Python3

# Python program to remove given element from the list
list1 = [1, 9, 8, 4, 9, 2, 9]
     
# Printing initial list
print ("original list : "+ str(list1))
 
# using List Comprehension
# to remove list element 9
list1 = [ele for ele in list1 if ele != 9]
     
# Printing list after removal
print ("List after element removal is : " + str(list1))

Output

original list : [1, 9, 8, 4, 9, 2, 9]
List after element removal is : [1, 8, 4, 2]

Remove an item from a list using remove()

We can remove an item from the list by passing the value of the item to be deleted as the parameter to remove() function. 

• Python3

lst = ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender',
    'Lily', 'Carnations']
print("Original List is :", lst)
 
# using remove()
# to delete item ('Orchids')
# from the list
lst.remove('Orchids')
print("After deleting the item :", lst)

Output

Original List is : ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']
After deleting the item : ['Iris', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']

Delete an element from a List using pop()

The pop() is also a method of listing. We can remove the element at the specified index and get the value of that element using pop(). 

• Python3

lst = ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender',
    'Lily', 'Carnations']
print("Original List is :", lst)
 
# using pop()
# to delete item ('Orchids' at index 1)
# from the list
a = lst.pop(1)
print("Item popped :", a)
print("After deleting the item :", lst)

Output

Original List is : ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']
Item popped : Orchids
After deleting the item : ['Iris', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']

Remove an item from a list using discard() method

In this method, we convert a list into a set and then delete an item using the discard() function. Then we convert the set back to the list.

• Python3

# Python program to remove given element from the list
lst = ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender',
    'Lily', 'Carnations']
print("Original List is :", lst)
 
# using discard() method to remove list element 'orchids'
lst = set(lst)
lst.discard('Orchids')
 
# Converting set back to list
lst=list(lst)
 
print("List after element removal is :", lst)

Output

Original List is : ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations']
List after element removal is : ['Lily', 'Carnations', 'Iris', 'Rose', 'Lavender']

Note: Since the list is converted to a set, all duplicates will be removed and the ordering of the list cannot be preserved.

Remove an item from a list using filter() method

In this method, we filter the unwanted element from the list using the filter() function. 

• Python

# Python program to remove given element from the list
lst = ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender',
    'Lily', 'Carnations']
print("Original List is :", lst)
 
# using discard() method to remove list element 'orchids'
lst1 = filter(lambda item: item!='Orchids',lst)
 
 
 
print("List after element removal is :", list(lst1))

Output

('Original List is :', ['Iris', 'Orchids', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations'])
('List after element removal is :', ['Iris', 'Rose', 'Lavender', 'Lily', 'Carnations'])