Can someone explain to me why entering numbers[-1][-1][-1] would return x?

user_18719206 0
Viewed 76

This is the list I typed in:

numbers =  [[1,'one'],[2,'two'],[3,'three'],[4,'four'],[6,'six']]

I’m lost on why numbers[-1][-1][-1] would return 'x'.

python
3 Answers

This is because the first [-1] gets the last element in the list [[1,'one'],[2,'two],[3,'three'],[4,'four'],[6,'six']], which is [6, 'six'].

Then, the second [-1] gets the last element in that list, which is six.

Finally, the third [-1] returns the last character in the string six, which is x.

The square brackets ([]) tell python to get something at an index, and -1 is the last one. Strings can be thought of as lists of characters, which is why the x is return from that string.

user_129646430

-1 index, means the last element of a list. that you can see

e0 = in_nums[-1] # [6, 'six']
e1 = e0[-1] # 'six'
e2 = e1[-1] # 'x'
user_27057020

This happens because when you acess the -1 element on a list or a string, you are actually acessing the item on the last index of that list (or str). That said, we have:

numbers[-1] -> [6, 'six']    # returns the last element (a list)
numbers[-1][-1] -> 'six'     # returns the last element of the above list
numbers[-1][-1][-1] -> 'x'   # returns the last element of the above str
user_111150720
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