How to Initialize an Empty List in Python

Lists are very useful in Python because they allow us to store multiple values inside a single variable.

Because of this, creating a list is one of the first things you will learn when you start learning Python.

In this article, we will learn the best ways to create an empty list in Python.

Using square brackets

The easiest and cleanest way to create an empty list in Python is to use square brackets.

This will create a list without any elements in then, thus making the length of the list 0.

PYTHON
items = []

length = len(items)

print(length)

BASH
0

Now that you have a list, you can now proceed to add elements to it.

Here's an example of how to do that:

PYTHON
items = []

items.append(1)
items.append(2)
items.append(3)

length = len(items)

print(length)
print(items)

BASH
3
[1, 2, 3]

Using the list constructor

Another way to create an empty list in Python is to use the list constructor.

This is a built-in function that allows you to create a list and by default it will be empty.

PYTHON
items = list()

length = len(items)

print(length)

BASH
0

Just like before you can now add elements to the list.

PYTHON
items = list()

items.append(1)
items.append(2)
items.append(3)

length = len(items)

print(length)
print(items)

BASH
3
[1, 2, 3]

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to create an empty list in Python.

You can either use square brackets or the list constructor to create an empty list.

Thanks for reading!

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