Get unique values from a list in python [duplicate]

Question

I want to get the unique values from the following list:

['nowplaying', 'PBS', 'PBS', 'nowplaying', 'job', 'debate', 'thenandnow'] 

The output which I require is:

['nowplaying', 'PBS', 'job', 'debate', 'thenandnow'] 

This code works:

output = [] for x in trends:     if x not in output:         output.append(x) print(output) 

is there a better solution I should use?

Answer 1

First declare your list properly, separated by commas. You can get the unique values by converting the list to a set.

mylist = ['nowplaying', 'PBS', 'PBS', 'nowplaying', 'job', 'debate', 'thenandnow'] myset = set(mylist) print(myset) 

If you use it further as a list, you should convert it back to a list by doing:

mynewlist = list(myset) 

Another possibility, probably faster would be to use a set from the beginning, instead of a list. Then your code should be:

output = set() for x in trends:     output.add(x) print(output) 

As it has been pointed out, sets do not maintain the original order. If you need that, you should look for an ordered set implementation (see this question for more).