How to get common prefix of strings in a list [duplicate]

Question

I need to know how to identify prefixes in strings in a list. For example,

list = ['nomad', 'normal', 'nonstop', 'noob']

Its answer should be 'no' since every string in the list starts with 'no'

I was wondering if there is a method that iterates each letter in strings in the list at the same time and checks each letter is the same with each other.

Answer 1

Use os.path.commonprefix it will do exactly what you want.

In [1]: list = ['nomad', 'normal', 'nonstop', 'noob']

In [2]: import os.path as p

In [3]: p.commonprefix(list)
Out[3]: 'no'

As an aside, naming a list "list" will make it impossible to access the list class, so I would recommend using a different variable name.