What does [:-1] in Python actually do and why would you want to use it? [:-1] in Python is a slice operation used on strings or lists and captures all contents of the string or list except for the last character or element. Here are some examples demonstrating the operation of this code with strings: …
What operator is used to raise a number to a power in Python? In Python the double asterisk operator ** is used to help calculate the exponent of a number raised to a power. This is done without a need to import the Python math library. For example, 2 to the power of 3 can …
What does the asterisk before a variable name mean in Python? For example, if I have a variable that contains a list of strings and the name of the variable is called my_list what does *my_list do? The asterisk is an operator in Python that is commonly known as the multiplication symbol when used between …
In Python 3.8 a new assignment expression hit allowing for easier access of variables that are used when being assigned. Here are some tips on how this can be used in your everyday coding. Wait, what’s an assignment expression? You may have heard of the term assignment operator and seen its use in the wild …
How do you zip two lists together in Python? What if you want to zip multiple lists together, is it the same process or something different? The built-in function zip() allows users to combine iterables, such as a list, into tuples by taking each corresponding item from the lists passed into its parameters merging the …
How do you initialize an empty dictionary in Python? Is it best to use dict() or {}? There are two common ways of initializing a dictionary in Python. One involves using the built-in function dict() and is known as the dict constructor, whereas the other method is known as dict literal and has the syntax …