Understanding the zip function in Python

Introduction

zip() is a built-in function in Python used for unpacking values from one or more iterables into a tuple, with one value from each of the iterables in the tuple. Another way of thinking about the zip function is transposing a square matrix.

Syntax

The zip() function has the following syntax:

zip(*iterable, strict=False)

• iterable: An object that can be looped or iterated over. Examples include strings, lists, dictionaries, tuples, sets, etc.
• strict: A boolean value that allows you to set whether the length of the iterables should be the same or not.
• Return value: The return value is an iterator of tuples, where the i-th tuple contains the i-th element from each of the argument iterables. Note that until the zip function is iterated upon, for example, using a for loop, or wrapping in a list() constructor, the iterables won't be processed or accessible.

Understanding the zip function through examples

1. Here we're using a for loop with the zip function to unpack iterables like, a range function, a list, a tuple and a string:

for item in zip(range(4),  ['fee', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'], ('bam', 'baz', 'bat', 'ban'), 'abot'):  
    print(item)

Running the code above prints the following tuples :

(0, 'fee', 'bam', 'a')
(1, 'fi', 'baz', 'b')
(2, 'fo', 'bat', 'o')
(3, 'fum', 'ban', 't')

2. In the following example, we're using the list() constructor together with the zip function:

list(zip(range(4),['fee', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'], ['bam', 'baz', 'bat', 'ban']))

The code above outputs:

[(0, 'fee', 'bam'), (1, 'fi', 'baz'), (2, 'fo', 'bat'), (3, 'fum', 'ban')]

3. When using the zip function, if the strict argument is not set to True and the iterables provided are of different lengths, zip will only consider the values up to the length of the shortest iterable, ignoring any extra values in the longer iterables. In the example below, the third iterable which is a tuple has a length shorter than other iterables in the function:

for item in zip(range(4),  ['fee', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'], ('bam', 'baz', 'bat'), 'abot'):  
    print(item)

And as you can see below, the last item of each of the longer iterables is discarded:

(0, 'fee', 'bam', 'a')
(1, 'fi', 'baz', 'b')
(2, 'fo', 'bat', 'o')

4. If you set the value of strict to True, and of the iterables passed to the zip function has a unequal length, a ValueError will be raised. Here's the code from the last example, but with strict=True:

for item in zip(range(4),  ['fee', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'], ('bam', 'baz', 'bat'), 'abot', strict=True):  
    print(item)

A ValueError is thrown as shown below:

(0, 'fee', 'bam', 'a')
(1, 'fi', 'baz', 'b')
(2, 'fo', 'bat', 'o')

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[13], line 1
----> 1 for item in zip(range(4),  ['fee', 'fi', 'fo', 'fum'], ('bam', 'baz', 'bat'), 'abot', strict=True):  
      2 print(item)

ValueError: zip() argument 3 is shorter than arguments 1-2

Tips and tricks for using the zip function

Create a dictionary from two lists

One common use case of the zip function is for creating a dictionary from two lists:

keys = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
values = ["John", "Jane", "Max", "Dave", "Ella"]

create_dict = dict(zip(keys, values))
print(create_dict) # {0: 'John', 1: 'Jane', 2: 'Max', 3: 'Dave', 4: 'Ella'}

Parallel iteration of two or more lists

Here's how you can use the zip function to loop through two or more sequences simultaneously.

users = ['Max', 'Jane', 'Jack']
ages = [25, 30, 25]
for name, age in zip(users, ages):
    print(f'{name} is {age} years old.')

# prints:
# Max is 25 years old.
# Jane is 30 years old.
# Jack is 25 years old.

Using itertools.zip_longest() to fill missing values

If one or more of the iterables passed to the zip function has a shorter length than others, you can use itertools.zip_longest() to fill in the missing values. The example below fills the missing values with 0:

from itertools import zip_longest
list1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
list2 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
zipped = list(zip_longest(list1, list2, fillvalue=0))
print(zipped) 

# prints:
# [(1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c'), (4, 'd'), (5, 'e'), (6, 0), (7, 0), (8, 0), (9, 0), (10, 0)]

Unzip a sequence using the * operator

Perhaps you have been wondering if there's an unzip function that does the the opposite of zip, well, there's none. You can actually use the zip function to zip and unzip a sequence of iterables.

The example below shows how you can use the * operator with zip to unzip a list of tuples into separate tuples:

zipped = [('a', 1), ('b', 2), ('c', 3), ('d', 4)]
letters, numbers = zip(*zipped)
print(letters)
print(numbers)

# prints:
# ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd')
# (1, 2, 3, 4)

Conclusion

zip is a very handy function every Python developer should have in their arsenal. Its versatility can help make your code look more readable and professional.

Hopefully, this article has shed light on the potentials of zip and equipped you with valuable tips to leverage its capabilities in your next projects.

Until next time, happy coding!