How to Retrieve an Item from a List by Index in Python?

To retrieve an item from a list by its index in Python, you can use square brackets [] notation or the list.pop() method. Here are examples of both approaches:

Using square brackets notation:

my_list = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

# Retrieve item by index
item = my_list[1]

print(item)  # Output: "banana"

In this example, we have a list my_list containing three items. To retrieve an item, we use the square brackets notation and provide the index of the item we want to access. Remember that the index starts from 0, so my_list[0] retrieves the first item, my_list[1] retrieves the second item, and so on.

Using list.pop() method:

my_list = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

# Retrieve and remove item by index
item = my_list.pop(1)

print(item)  # Output: "banana"
print(my_list)  # Output: ["apple", "cherry"]

In this example, we use the pop() method to retrieve an item by its index and remove it from the list at the same time. The pop() method takes the index as an argument and returns the item. After calling pop(), the item is no longer present in the list.

Both approaches allow you to access an item in a list by its index. The first approach using square brackets is useful when you want to retrieve an item without modifying the list, while the second approach using pop() is helpful when you also want to remove the item from the list.