Question

Is there clean way to get the value at a list index or None if the index is out or range in Python?

The obvious way to do it would be this:

if len(the_list) > i:
    return the_list[i]
else:
    return None

However, the verbosity reduces code readability. Is there a clean, simple, one-liner that can be used instead?

Answer 1

Try:

try:
    return the_list[i]
except IndexError:
    return None

Or, one liner:

l[i] if i < len(l) else None

Example:

>>> l=list(range(5))
>>> i=6
>>> print(l[i] if i < len(l) else None)
None
>>> i=2
>>> print(l[i] if i < len(l) else None)
2