How to check if a List is empty in Python

Learn the easiest and most pythonic way to check if a List is empty in Python.

Learn the easiest and most pythonic way to check if a List is empty in Python.

Let's say we have an empty List:

my_list = []

#more

You can simply check if the List is empty with:

if not my_list:
    print("List is empty")

This is using the Truth Value Testing in Python, also known as implicit booleaness or truthy/falsy value testing.

Among other rules it defines that empty sequences and collections like '', (), [], {}, set(), range(0) are all considered false.

Another way which also works but is not necessary is to check if the length is equal to 0:

if len(my_list) == 0:
    print("List is empty")

Although the first approach is considered to be more Pythonic, some people prefer the explicit second approach.

Note that the official PEP 8 Python Style Guide recommends the first way:

"For sequences, (strings, lists, tuples), use the fact that empty sequences are false"

# Correct:
if not seq:
if seq:

# Wrong:
if len(seq):
if not len(seq):