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Adding to a Python list without making a list of lists

I start with an empty list and ask the user for a phrase. I want to add each character as one element of an array, but the way I do it is creating a list of lists.

myList = []
for i in range(3):
    myPhrase = input("Enter some words: ")
    myList.append(list(myPhrase))
    print(myList)

I get:

Enter some words: hi bob
[['h', 'i', ' ', 'b', 'o', 'b']]

Enter some words: ok
[['h', 'i', ' ', 'b', 'o', 'b'], ['o', 'k']]

Enter some words: bye
[['h', 'i', ' ', 'b', 'o', 'b'], ['o', 'k'], ['b', 'y', 'e']]

but I want:

['h', 'i', ' ', 'b' ... 'o', 'k', 'b', 'y', 'e']
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2 answers


The argument is .append()

not expanded, retrieved, or repeated. You should use .extend()

if you want all individual list items to be added to another list.



>>> L = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> M = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
>>> L.append(M)    # Takes the list M as a whole object
>>>                # and puts it at the end of L
>>> L
[0, 1, 2, 3, [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]]
>>> L = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> L.extend(M)    # Takes each element of M and adds 
>>>                # them one by one to the end of L
>>> L
[0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
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I think this is not how you are going on the problem. You can store your strings as strings and then iterate over them later when needed:

foo = 'abc'
for ch in foo:
    print ch

Outputs:



a
b
c

Storing them as a list of symbols seems unnecessary.

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