Working With Iterables

Mastering the zip() Function in Python

In this lesson, you will learn how to use Python's zip() function to pair elements from multiple lists or tuples, iterate through zipped results, and apply practical techniques for combining and processing data in parallel.

In this lesson, you'll master the zip() function for pairing items from multiple lists or tuples.

Let's start by combining two lists of equal length with zip().

colors = ["red", "green", "blue"]
fruits = ["apple", "pear", "berry"]

# Use zip() to pair elements from both lists
paired_list = list(zip(colors, fruits))
print(paired_list)

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Output

zip() pairs items by their position, creating tuples of each matching element.

Here's the syntax for using zip():

# Define two iterables (lists or tuples)
iterable_one = [1, 2, 3]
iterable_two = ['a', 'b', 'c']

# Use zip() to pair elements from both iterables
paired_items = zip(iterable_one, iterable_two)

# paired_items is an iterator of tuples like (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')
# To see the pairs, convert to a list or loop over it:
for number, letter in paired_items:
    # number and letter come from the paired tuples
    print((number, letter))

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You can also use zip() with tuples.

tuple1 = (1, 2, 3)
tuple2 = (4, 5, 6)

# zip() combines elements from both tuples into pairs
zipped_result = zip(tuple1, tuple2)

# Convert the zipped object to a list to display the pairs
result_list = list(zipped_result)
print(result_list)

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Output

What will be the output?

fruits = ["apple", "banana"]
colors = ["red", "yellow"]
zipped = list(zip(fruits, colors))
print(zipped)

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What if your lists are different lengths? Let's see what happens.

zip() stops at the shortest list when lengths differ.

fruits = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']
colors = ['red', 'yellow']

paired = list(zip(fruits, colors))
print('Paired items:', paired)

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Output

What will be the output?

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
pets = ["cat", "dog"]
zipped = list(zip(names, pets))
print(zipped)

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Here's how you might store zipped pairs in a variable:

list_one = [1, 2, 3]
list_two = ['a', 'b', 'c']

# Use zip() to pair elements from both lists
zipped_pairs = zip(list_one, list_two)

# Convert the zipped object to a list to inspect the pairs
zipped_pairs_list = list(zipped_pairs)

# zipped_pairs_list now holds the paired tuples
# Example content: [(1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')]

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You can loop through a zipped result to process pairs.

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
ages = [24, 30, 18]

zipped_list = zip(names, ages)

for pair in zipped_list:
    print("Name: " + str(pair[0]) + ", Age: " + str(pair[1]))

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Output

You can also unpack values from each zipped tuple directly in the loop.

list_one = [10, 20, 30]
list_two = ['a', 'b', 'c']

for number, letter in zip(list_one, list_two):
    # Unpack each pair from zip directly into 'number' and 'letter'
    print(number, letter)

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Let's use unpacking in a real example.

names = ["Alice", "Bob"]
favorite_colors = ["red", "blue"]

for name, color in zip(names, favorite_colors):
    print(name + "'s favorite color is " + color + ".")

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Output

What will be the output?

colors = ["blue", "green", "red"]
items = ["pen", "book", "lamp"]
for color, item in zip(colors, items):
    print(color + " " + item)

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zip() can combine more than two sequences at once. Let's see how.

Try zipping three liststhe result contains tuples with three elements.

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
ages = [25, 30, 35]
cities = ["New York", "Los Angeles", "Chicago"]

# Zip the three lists together
combined = list(zip(names, ages, cities))

# Print each tuple to show it has three elements
for item in combined:
    print(item)

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Output

What will be the output?

numbers = [1, 2, 3]
letters = ['a', 'b', 'c']
symbols = ['@', '#', '$']
result = list(zip(numbers, letters, symbols))
print(result)

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zip() is useful for building new lists from pairs. Let's try it!

Here's how you can create a list of strings by combining zipped pairs in a loop.

products = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']
prices = [0.99, 0.5, 2.5]

result = []
for product, price in zip(products, prices):
    combined = product + ' costs $' + str(price)
    result.append(combined)

print(result)

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Output

What will be the output?

countries = ["France", "Japan", "Brazil"]
capitals = ["Paris", "Tokyo", "Brasilia"]
for country, capital in zip(countries, capitals):
    print(country + ": " + capital)

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Remember, zip() always creates tuples—never lists or dictionaries.

# Define two sample lists to be zipped
list_one = [1, 2, 3]
list_two = ['a', 'b', 'c']

# Use zip() to combine elements from both lists
zipped_result = list(zip(list_one, list_two))

# Each element in zipped_result is a tuple
# Print the zipped list to show structure
print(zipped_result)  # Output: [(1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')]

# Print the type of the first element to confirm it's a tuple
print(type(zipped_result[0]))  # Output: <class 'tuple'>

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Let's see how zip() can quickly pair up values for reporting.

student_names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
student_scores = [85, 92, 78]

for name, score in zip(student_names, student_scores):
    print(name + ": " + str(score))

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Output

What will be the output?

animals = ['dog', 'cat', 'bird']
sounds = ['bark', 'meow', 'chirp']
for animal, sound in zip(animals, sounds):
    print(animal + ': ' + sound)

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What will be the output?

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c']
list3 = ['x', 'y', 'z']

zipped_2 = list(zip(list1, list2))
zipped_3 = list(zip(list1, list2, list3))

print(zipped_2)
print(zipped_3)

for num, char in zip(list1, list2):
    print(str(num) + char)

pairs = zip(list1, list2)
print(type(pairs))

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