Unique list elements in Python, but prefer capitalized values

user_1157545 0
Viewed 63

If elements are added to an array (or set, dictionary), how can it result in unique elements (which set does case-sensitively) but prefer capitalized words instead of their lower-case alternatives (e.g. Apple instead of apple).

Example:

items = []

items.append('apple')
items.append('orange')
items.append('Apple')
items.append('grapes')
items.append('Orange')

Expected result:

[ 'Apple', 'Orange', 'grapes' ]

It'll be good to keep the original order by first occurrence (as in the result above).

I don't want to use any 3rd-party packages for this.

python
2 Answers

You have to use set, capitalize and lower:

unique_items = [i for i in list(set([i.lower() for i in items]))]

for i, unique_item in enumerate(unique_items):
     if unique_item.capitalize() in items:
         unique_items[i] = unique_item.capitalize()

unique_items.sort(key=lambda e: items.index(e.casefold()))

print(unique_items) # ['grapes', 'Apple', 'Orange']
user_37830020

I figured a simpler approach using a dictionary:

dict = {}

for i in items:
  il = i.lower()
  if not il in dict or i[0].isupper():
    dict[il] = i

print(list(dict.values()))
user_11575450
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