Remove all elements from a list after a particular value

Question

Given a list l1 = ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes, 'banana']

How can I remove all items after 'pear'

Answer 1

use list slice method

>>> l1 = ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']
>>> target_ibdex = l1.index('pear')
>>> target_ibdex
1
>>> l1[:target_ibdex+1]
['apple', 'pear']
>>> 

---

With exception handling when element is not present in the list.

>>> l1 = ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']
>>> target_element = "mango"
>>> try:
...     target_index = l1.index(target_element) + 1
... except ValueError, e:
...     target_index = None
... 
>>> l1[:target_index]
['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']

when element present in the list

>>> l1 = ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']
>>> target_element = "pear"
>>> try:
...     target_index = l1.index(target_element) + 1
... except ValueError, e:
...     target_index = None
... 
>>> l1[:target_index]
['apple', 'pear']

Answer 2

You can build a custom generator function which will work on any iterable, not just lists - although for your example, list.index, exception handling and slicing is fine...

def takewhile_including(iterable, value):
    for it in iterable:
        yield it
        if it == value:
            return

l1 = ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']
print('Until pear', list(takewhile_including(l1, 'pear')))
# Until pear ['apple', 'pear']
print('Until blah', list(takewhile_including(l1, 'blah')))
# Until blah ['apple', 'pear', 'grapes', 'banana']