Python's most efficient way to choose longest string in list?

Question

I have a list of variable length and am trying to find a way to test if the list item currently being evaluated is the longest string contained in the list. And I am using Python 2.6.1

For example:

mylist = ['abc','abcdef','abcd']  for each in mylist:     if condition1:         do_something()     elif ___________________: #else if each is the longest string contained in mylist:         do_something_else() 

Surely there's a simple list comprehension that's short and elegant that I'm overlooking?

Answer 1

From the Python documentation itself, you can use max:

>>> mylist = ['123','123456','1234'] >>> print max(mylist, key=len) 123456