How to split a List into equally sized chunks in Python
Learn different ways you can use to split a List into equally sized chunks in Python.
Learn different ways you can use to split a List into equally sized chunks in Python.
The following methods can be used to batch data from an iterable into lists or tuples of equal length n:
#more
Implement your own generator¶
You can implement your own generator like this:
my_list = list(range(10))
def chunk(lst, n):
for i in range(0, len(lst), n):
yield lst[i:i + n]
chunks = list(chunk(my_list, 3))
# [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]]
Use a one-liner¶
If you really want a one-liner, you can also use a generator or list comprehension:
n = 3
# Generator comprehension
chunks = (my_list[i:i + n] for i in range(0, len(my_list), n))
print(list(chunks))
# [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]]
# List comprehension
chunks = [my_list[i:i + n] for i in range(0, len(my_list), n)]
print(chunks)
# [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]]
Use itertools.zip_longest¶
You can use itertools.ziplongest. Note that when using itertools, the single chunks are tuples, and in this case the last batch gets filled with the specified fillvalue if the batch is shorter than n:
from itertools import zip_longest
def chunk(lst, n):
return zip_longest(*[iter(lst)]*n, fillvalue=None)
chunks = list(chunk(my_list, 3))
# [(0, 1, 2), (3, 4, 5), (6, 7, 8), (9, None, None)]
Use itertools.islice¶
You can use itertools.islice. Here, the last batch does not get filled in case it is shorter than n:
from itertools import islice
def chunk(lst, n):
it = iter(lst)
return iter(lambda: tuple(islice(it, n)), ())
chunks = list(chunk(my_list, 3))
# [(0, 1, 2), (3, 4, 5), (6, 7, 8), (9,)]
Use itertools.batched (New in Python 3.12)¶
In Python 3.12, you can use the new itertools.batched method, which was implemented exactly for this purpose:
from itertools import batched
chunks = list(batched(my_list, 3))
# [(0, 1, 2), (3, 4, 5), (6, 7, 8), (9,)]
Use more-itertools¶
If you can't use Python 3.12 and don't want to reinvent the wheel, you can use the excellent third-party module more-itertools. It provides more routines for operating on iterables, beyond itertools.
Install it first:
pip install more-itertools
Then you can use these methods:
import more_itertools as mit
list(mit.chunked(iterable, n))
# [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]]
list(mit.sliced(iterable, n))
# [range(0, 3), range(3, 6), range(6, 9), range(9, 10)]
list(mit.grouper(n, iterable))
# [(0, 1, 2), (3, 4, 5), (6, 7, 8), (9, None, None)]
list(mit.windowed(iterable, len(iterable)//n, step=n))
# [(0, 1, 2), (3, 4, 5), (6, 7, 8), (9, None, None)]
list(mit.chunked_even(iterable, n))
# [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9]]
Resources¶
All the mentioned methods in this post of chunking a list were summarized from this Stack Overflow thread.
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