Convert list to string Python

In this post, you will learn different ways to convert a list to a string using the Python programming language.

While developing software, we may face some scenario where there may be a need to convert a list to a string. In Python, List is mostly used data structure, it contains any type of data objects with comma separated and enclosed within a square bracket. A single list may contain data types like Integers, Strings, as well as Objects or even another list inside a list. In Python, string is used for representing characters. Strings are immutable, indexable, iterable. There are several ways to convert a list to a string, like using list comprehension, map() method, join() method.

Using join() method

The join() method is a Python string method and returns a string by joining all the elements of an iterable, separated by a string separator. It provides a flexible way to create strings from iterable objects. It joins each element of an iterable list by a string separator and returns the concatenated string. Here is the syntax of join() -

string.join(iterable)

Here, iterable is the required parameter. It is an iterable object where all the returned values are strings. The following code is an example of join() function to convert a list to a string. It is considered a space as a separator.

def listToString(x):  
    
    # initialize an empty string 
    string = " " 
    
    # return string   
    return(string.join(x)) 
        
        
# list elements     
list_x = ['Welcome', 'to', 'etutorialspoint', 'website']

print(listToString(list_x))  

Welcome to etutorialspoint website

Using map() method

Python's inbuilt map() function applies a function on all the items of an iterator given as input and returns a map object of the results after applying the given function to each item. The iterator can be a list, tuple, dictionary or string. The syntax of map() function is -

map(fun, iter)

Here, fun is the function to execute for each item and iter is an iterable compulsory object.

list_x = ['He', 'sold', 2, 'tables', 'and', 10, 'chairs'] 
  
# using map function
listToString = ' '.join(map(str, list_x)) 
  
print(listToString)

He sold 2 tables and 10 chairs

Using list comprehension

A list comprehension is a syntactic construct available in some programming languages for creating a list based on existing lists. It provides a concise way to create lists and uses square brackets ([])

# Python program to convert a list 
list_x = ['I', 'got', 5, 'chocolates', 'and', 2, 'candies'] 
  
# using list comprehension 
listToString = ' '.join([str(s) for s in list_x])  
  
print(listToString)

I got 5 chocolates and 2 candies

List iteration process

In the list iteration process, we iterate over the given string using a for loop and add its element to the string variable.

# Function to convert list to string
def listToString(x):  
    
    # initialize an empty string 
    str1 = ""  
    
    # traverse in the string   
    for ele in x:  
        str1 += ele   
    
    # return string   
    return str1  
        
        
# list elements      
list_x = ['Hello',' Friend',', ','How',' are',' you','?']

# Printing list
print(listToString(list_x))  

Hello Friend, How are you?

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