The Python zip function accepts zero or more iterables and returns an iterator tuples.
In this article we will show you, How to use the zip function in Python Programming to combine iterable items with example.
Python zip function Syntax
The basic syntax of the Python zip function is as shown below:
zip(*iterables)
The iterables can be list, tuple, string etc or you can also use the user defined iterator. The following set of examples helps you understand the zip function in Python.
Simple Python zip Object Example
This is a simple example to demonstrate the zip function. This example zips or combines the items in list1 and list2. I suggest you to refer Python List article.
# Python zip Example list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] zip_result = zip(list1, list2) print(zip_result)
OUTPUT
If you look at the above screenshot, it printed the zip object. So, in order to display the zipped result, you have to use either the for loop or any iterable.
Python zip For loop Example
This is same as the above example. However, this time we are using for loop to iterate the zip result, and displays the output.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] zip_result = zip(list1, list2) for x, y in zip_result: print(x, y)
OUTPUT
zip function Example 3
In this example, we are using Python zip function to zip three list values.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday'] zip_result = zip(list1, list2, list3) for x, y, z in zip_result: print(x, y, z)
OUTPUT
This is same as the above example. However, we changed the for loop a little it. Now you can see the actual values in tuple format.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday'] zip_result = zip(list1, list2, list3) for val in zip_result: print(val)
OUTPUT
zip tuple Example
Until now, we used the zip function on list iterator. In this example, we are using Python zip on tuples.
tuple1 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
tuple2 = ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e')
tuple3 = ('Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday')
zip_result = zip(tuple1, tuple2, tuple3)
for val in zip_result:
print(val)OUTPUT
Python zip list and tuple Example
You can also use this zip function on the combination of different iterators. In this example, we used it on two lists and one tuple.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
tuple1 = ('Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday')
zip_result = zip(list1, list2, tuple1)
for val in zip_result:
print(val)OUTPUT
Python zip uneven items Example
Until now, we used the same number of items in a list or tuple or any iterable. Let me show you, what will happen, if we use different number of items in an iterable. For this, we used 4 items in list 2.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
tuple1 = ('Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday')
zip_result = zip(list1, list2, tuple1)
for val in zip_result:
print(val)OUTPUT
As you can see from the above screenshot, it has returned only 4 items from each iterable.
Convert Python zip to list
In all our previous example, we are using for loop to display the items in a zip object. However, you can convert the zip object to any of the iterable. In this example, we are converting zip object to list using list() function.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tues', 'Friday']
zip_result = zip(list1, list2, list3)
print(list(zip_result))
print('\nTo Zip directly inside a List')
print(list(zip(list1, list2, list3)))OUTPUT
Convert Python zip to dictionary and set
In this example, we are converting the zip object to set and dictionary using set() function and dict() function.
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
list2 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tues', 'Friday']
zip_result = zip(list1, list2)
print(set(zip_result))
print('\nTo Zip directly inside a Set')
print(set(zip(list1, list2)))
print('\n*********Dictionary Example******')
result = zip(list1, list2)
print(dict(result))
print('\nTo Zip directly inside a List')
print(dict(zip(list1, list2)))OUTPUT
Python zip in List Comprehension Example
This example shows you, how to use zip function inside a list comprehension.
list1 = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday'] [print(list1, list2, list3) for list1, list2, list3 in zip(list1, list2, list3)]
OUTPUT
This is an another example of zip function along with list comprehension. Here, we are displaying the tuple by combining the items in list1, list2 and list3.
list1 = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday'] [print(values) for values in zip(list1, list2, list3)]
OUTPUT
Python unzip example
In python, you can use this zip function to unzip the items in it.
In this example, first, we declared three list items. Next, we used zip function to combine two list items and converted them as a list.
Next, x, y = zip(*list_result) statement will assign the first set of values to x, and second set of values to y. You can see the same in the successive print statements.
list1 = [10, 20, 30, 40]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Thursday', 'Friday']
list_result = list(zip(list1, list3))
print(list_result)
x, y = zip(*list_result)
print('Values in x = ', x)
print('Values in y = ', y)OUTPUT
Python unzip example 2
This time we are using three list items and performed the zip and unzip operations.
list1 = [10, 20, 30, 40]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Thursday', 'Friday']
list_result = list(zip(list1, list2, list3))
print(list_result)
x, y, z = zip(*list_result)
print('Values in x = ', x)
print('Values in y = ', y)
print('Values in z = ', z)OUTPUT
Python unzip example 3
In this example, instead of converting them to list, we are using the zip result as the unzip source. This will also work.
list1 = [10, 20, 30, 40]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
list3 = ['Sunday', 'Monday', 'Thursday', 'Friday']
result = zip(list1, list2, list3)
x, y, z = zip(*result)
print('Values in x = ', x)
print('Values in y = ', y)
print('Values in z = ', z)OUTPUT
