This is a very tricky problem to explain. I was playing around with Python's list methods, particularly the del index object. I wanted to create a simple script that would create a list of integers from 1 to 100, and then a for loop which would delete the odd numbers from the list.
Here is the script I wrote:
def main():
num = list(range(1,101))
print(num)
for i in range(0,101):
del num[i]
print(num)
main()
Seems like it would work right? I thought so too, until I ran it.
I am not sure why, but when i was passed to the del num[i] index, the number itself doubled.
When I ran it, I received IndexError: list assignment index out of range.
When I changed the parameters from range(0,101) to range(0,10), I discovered that it deleted all the odd numbers from 1 to 20.
In other words, i in the index is doubling when it shouldn't. Can I get some information about this?
When you use the del keyword inside of your for loop, it's completely removing the item from the original num list you made. By doing so, the length of your list is getting smaller and smaller with each iteration through the loop.
This also explains why it's only removing the odd numbers, since the indexes are shifting down after each delete, allowing the even numbers to slip through the cracks of your program:
num = range(1, 5) # num = [1, 2, 3, 4]
del num[0] # results in num = [2, 3, 4]
del num [1] # deletes 3, and num now = [2, 4]
etc. for a longer loop
To delete the odd numbers, consider using a conditional to check the %2 == 0 status and the list.remove() method:
num = range(1, 101)
for i in num:
if i % 2 != 0:
num.remove(i)
print(num)
Or a list comprehension inside your main() function:
return [x for x in num if x % 2 == 0]