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Using the Python ‘filter()’ Function to Filter a List, with Examples

This article will cover the syntax and usage of the filter function. It will work for both Python 2 and Python 3.

The filter function in Python takes an iterable (iterables are things like lists, dictionaries, sets, or tuples – collections containing items that can be looped over) and checks that each item matches a set of criteria, removing those that don’t match.

It’s a fast and easy way to filter the values in a list or array.

Syntax for Python filter()

The filter() function does not need to be imported to be used, as it is a Python built-in function. Here’s the syntax:

filter(FUNCTION, ITERABLE)

Note that:

  • FUNCTION is a standard Python function, previously defined in your code
    • It should accept a single parameter which is used to read each item in the iterable passed to the filter() function
    • The return value of this function should be either TRUE or FALSE
      • TRUE if the item should be kept in the filter() result or FALSE if it should be discarded
  • ITERABLE should be a variable or value containing an iterable
    • Lists, dictionaries, sets, and tuples are common iterables
  • filter() will return an iterator (an object containing several values) containing only the items from ITERABLE for which FUNCTION returned TRUE

Example usage of filter()

This example uses filter() to process a list of temperatures and keep only those that fell below zero:

# Define a list of temperatures 
temperatures = [23, 5, -5, 19, -6, 11, -3]

# Define the function we wish to run for each item in the above list to check if they should be kept
# This function takes a single parameter - the current item being processed from the list, and returns True if it should be kept and False if not
def subZeroFunction(item):
    if item < 0:
        return True
    else:
        return False

# Use the filter() function to run coolFunction on every item in the temperatures list
# It is being stored in a new variable, subZeroFunction, but you could overwrite the original temperatures variable if you wanted to
subZeroTemperatures = filter(subZeroFunction, temperatures)

# Loop over the result and print out each item
for item in subZeroTemperatures:
    print(item)

This will output:

-5
-6
-3

…as it has constructed a new iterator containing only the negative values.

Similar Python Functions

Several other Python Functions work similarly to map() but may suit your scenario better – give them a look:

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I'm Brad, and I'm nearing 20 years of experience with Linux. I've worked in just about every IT role there is before taking the leap into software development. Currently, I'm building desktop and web-based solutions with NodeJS and PHP hosted on Linux infrastructure. Visit my blog or find me on Twitter to see what I'm up to.

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