How to Create List of Lists in Python

1. Use the append() Function to Create a List of Lists in Python
2. Use the List Comprehension Method to Create a List of Lists in Python
3. Use the for Loop to Create a List of Lists in Python

We can have a list of many types in Python, like strings, numbers, and more. Python also allows us to have a list within a list called a nested list or a two-dimensional list.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to create such lists.

Use the append() Function to Create a List of Lists in Python

We can add different lists to a common list using the append() function. It adds the list as an element to the end of the list.

The following code will explain this.

l1 = [1, 2, 3]
l2 = [4, 5, 6]
l3 = [7, 8, 9]

lst = []

lst.append(l1)
lst.append(l2)
lst.append(l3)
print(lst)

Output:

[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]

Note that such a two-dimensional list that contains integer or float values can be considered as a matrix.

Use the List Comprehension Method to Create a List of Lists in Python

List comprehension is a straightforward yet elegant way to create lists in Python. We use the for loops and conditional statements within the square brackets to create lists using this method.

We can create nested lists using this method, as shown below.

l1 = [1, 2, 3]
lst = [l1 for i in range(3)]
lst

Output:

[[1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]]

Use the for Loop to Create a List of Lists in Python

We can create a more complex list of lists by explicitly using the append() function with the for loop. We will use nested loops in this method. For example,

lst = []

for i in range(3):
    lst.append([])
    for j in range(3):
        lst[i].append(j)

print(lst)

Output:

[[0, 1, 2], [0, 1, 2], [0, 1, 2]]