Learn

What if we want to select the last element of a list?

We can use the index -1 to select the last item of a list, even when we don’t know how many elements are in a list.

Consider the following list with 6 elements:

pancake_recipe = ["eggs", "flour", "butter", "milk", "sugar", "love"]

If we select the -1 index, we get the final element, "love".

print(pancake_recipe[-1])

Would output:

love

This is equivalent to selecting the element with index 5:

print(pancake_recipe[5])

Would output:

love

Here are the negative index numbers for our list:

Create a variable called last_element.

Assign the last element in shopping_list to the variable last_element using a negative index.

Now select the element with index 5 and save it to the variable index5_element.

Use print to display both index5_element and last_element.

Note that they are equal to "cereal"!

Sign up to start coding

By signing up for Codecademy, you agree to Codecademy's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.

Or sign up using:

Already have an account?