Question

I have one list like this:

a = [3, 4, [1], 8, 9, [3, 4, 5]]

i would like to identify when that list with those characteristics has only one value, and then extract it to the main list:

Expected output

a = [3, 4, 1, 8, 9, [3, 4, 5]]

I know how extract values in a list composed of lists, but in this case i don’t know how

Answer 1

My solution is simple and straightforward:

result = []
for x in a:
   if isinstance(x, list) and len(x) == 1: # check item type and length
       result.append(x[0])
   else:
       result.append(x)

Or the same but one line

>>> [x[0] if isinstance(x, list) and len(x) == 1 else x for x in a]
[3, 4, 1, 8, 9, [3, 4, 5]]