Enumerate() in Python

enumerate() is a built-in function in Python that allows you to have an automatic counter while looping over iterables. A lot of times when dealing with iterators, we also get a need to keep a count of iterations. Python eases the programmers’ task by providing a built-in function enumerate() for this task.

Enumerate() method adds a counter to an iterable and returns it in a form of enumerate object. This enumerate object can then be used directly in for loops or be converted into a list of tuples using list() method.

Python enumerate() Function

The enumerate() function takes the following form:

enumerate(iterable, start=0)

The function accepts two arguments:

• iterable - An object that supports iteration.
• start - The number from which the counter starts. This argument is optional. By default, counter starts from 0.

enumerate() returns an enumerate object on which you can call the __next__() (or next() in Python 2) method to get a tuple containing a count and the current value of the iterable.

Here is an example of how to create a list of tuples using list() and how to loop over an iterable:

directions = ["north", "east", "south", "west"] 
list(enumerate(directions))

for index, value in enumerate(directions): 
    print("{}: {}".format(index, value))

[(0, 'north'), (1, 'east'), (2, 'south'), (3, 'west')]

0: north
1: east
2: south
3: west

If the zero-based indexing doesn’t work for you, choose another starting index for the enumeration:

directions = ["north", "east", "south", "west"] 
list(enumerate(directions, 1))

[(1, 'north'), (2, 'east'), (3, 'south'), (4, 'west')]

The enumerate() function works on any iterable object. An iterable is a container that can be iterated over. Putting it in simple words, it means an object that you can loop over with a for loop. Most of the built-in objects in Python like strings, lists, and tuples are iterables.

Write More Pythonic Code with enumerate()

Python’s for loop is totally different from the traditional C-style for loop which is available in many programming languages. The for loop in Python is equivalent to other languages’ foreach loop.

A common technique used by new Python developers to get the corresponding index when dealing with iterables is to use either the range(len(...)) pattern or set and increment a counter:

planets = ["Mercury", "Venus", "Earth", "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune"]
for i in range(len(planets)):
    print("Planet {}: {}".format(i, planets[i]))

planets = ["Mercury", "Venus", "Earth", "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune"]
i = 0
for planet in planets:
    print("Planet {}: {}".format(i, planet))
    i += 1

The loops above can be rewritten in more idiomatic way using enumerate():

planets = ["Mercury", "Venus", "Earth", "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune"]
for index, value in enumerate(planets): 
    print("Planet {}: {}".format(index, value))

All methods will produce the same output:

Planet 0: Mercury
Planet 1: Venus
Planet 2: Earth
Planet 3: Mars
Planet 4: Jupiter
Planet 5: Saturn
Planet 6: Uranus
Planet 7: Neptune

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how to use the Python’s enumerate() function.

Thank you for reading !

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