How to unpack Python list or tuple the better way?

In this blog, we will discuss how to use unpacking to assign multiple items from a list/tuple instead of manually accessing and setting the values.

What we generally do

Generally, whenever we encounter a list or tuple in Python and we need to unpack it, we do it this way:

Yep, we’re able to access the list elements correctly. It’s not wrong at all. But there’s a better way to do the same.

The Better Way

The same task can be performed in a better way. Instead of manually accessing and setting the values, we can assign multiple items from a list/tuple this way:

Did you see that we got the same output but with lesser code? It’s more concise and less error-prone.

If you know JavaScript, you might have found it similar to destructuring there.

Let’s see another example where we have a tuple within the list.

In the above example, we have a list called post_data. Inside the list, we have a tuple containing author data.

We have a general way first. Then we have our better way where first of all, we unpacked the list to get the post_id, post_title, and author_data (which is a tuple). Then we unpacked the tuple to get the author_name, author_age, and author_country.

In this short blog, we saw how we can unpack lists or tuples in a better concise, and less error-prone way.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.