if not a:
    print("List is empty")

Using the implicit booleanness of the empty list is quite Pythonic.

Answer from Patrick on Stack Overflow
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org โ€บ python โ€บ python-check-if-list-empty-not
Check if a list is empty or not in Python - GeeksforGeeks
October 24, 2024 - The not operator is the simplest way to see if a list is empty. It returns True if the list is empty and False if it has any items.
Discussions

How do I check if this list is "empty"?
Well there are a few ways you could deal with this. First would be to check if userInput is an empty string before converting it to a list. Another possibility would be to filter the list to remove all empty strings, eg via a list comprehension. Or you could do the filtering inside the loop you already have that converts to integers. Or, again inside that loop, you could use a counter variable to keep track of how many integers you've converted, and print an error afterwards if it's 0. And so on. The main thing here is that you should get away from thinking about how to code something, but first work out what the steps should be, and only then code it. More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/learnpython
7
1
December 8, 2022
How to remove empty dictionary value from list?

Yes the quotes (empty string) are considered values and you would use an if statement. Probably what I would suggest is a list comprehension:

[d for d in mylist if d['name']]

This creates a new list with each dictionary value in there if the value corresponding to the key 'name' is not an empty string. The empty string is a Falsey value in Python, so instead of checking if d['name'] != '' (which is also totally valid) you can just ask if d['name'].

More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/learnpython
27
39
March 7, 2017
XPath is returning an empty list
Why am I getting an empty list? That's the result of your Xpath string not matching with anything. More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/learnpython
5
3
February 20, 2018
Python - empty Lists getting initialized as noneType?
currSum.append(num) append returns None, as is idiomatic in Python for a mutating function. You should be modifying the list before calling the function if that is your intention. (Since you don't want help with the solution I'm not going to check whether this is pertinent, but FYI mutating parameters when you should be creating copies is a common recursion mistake.) More on reddit.com
๐ŸŒ r/learnprogramming
4
0
April 28, 2017
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Python Morsels
pythonmorsels.com โ€บ checking-for-an-empty-list-in-python
Checking for an empty list in Python - Python Morsels
August 20, 2024 - Many Python users prefer to check for an empty list by evaluating the list's truthiness. A non-empty list is truthy, and an empty list is falsey.
๐ŸŒ
Reddit
reddit.com โ€บ r/learnpython โ€บ how do i check if this list is "empty"?
r/learnpython on Reddit: How do I check if this list is "empty"?
December 8, 2022 -

I'm completely stumped on a computer science assignment because our lecturer has given us zero information. We're supposed to have the user input a list and check if the list is in decreasing order and print a suitable message if it is. That part works fine. However, if the list is "empty" (I'll explain the quotations in a second) then it should print the list is empty.

The problem is that, according to our brief we're supposed to use .split(",") in order to allow the user to separate their numbers with commas. The problem lies in the fact that even if a user hits enter without inputting anything, the list is still '1' long with just an empty string. I've been scouring the web to find out how to check if a list is empty. But all the tutorials have so far just been in relation to actually empty lists (as in, list = []). One did use the all() function to check that all items in the list were strings, which did work and let me print that the list is empty, but broke the original function. Could someone please help me I'm tearing my hair out with this.

--

def checkOrder():

# checks, etc.

integer_list = []

listLength = len(integer_list)

increasing = 0

decreasing = 0

singleValue = 0

# Converting inputted numbers into a split list

userInput = input("Please enter your numbers seperated by a comma (,):")

inputtedStrings = userInput.split(",")

for number in inputtedStrings:

inputtedIntegers = int(number)

integer_list.append(inputtedIntegers)

# Enumerating list

for i, val in enumerate(integer_list[:-1]):

if val <= integer_list[i+1]:

increasing = 1

elif val >= integer_list[i+1]:

decreasing = 1

# Check for a single value

if len(integer_list) == 1:

singleValue = 1

if len(integer_list) == 1 and

print("The list is empty.")

if increasing == 1:

print("The numbers are in increasing order.")

elif decreasing == 1 or singleValue == 1:

print("The numbers are in decreasing order.")

checkOrder()

--

๐ŸŒ
Built In
builtin.com โ€บ articles โ€บ python-check-if-list-is-empty
Python Check if a List Is Empty: A Guide | Built In
In this context, lists are considered truthy if they are non-empty, meaning that at least one argument was passed to the list. So, if you want to check if a list is empty, you can simply use the not operator.
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DataCamp
datacamp.com โ€บ tutorial โ€บ python-empty-list
A Comprehensive Guide to Python Empty Lists | DataCamp
February 2, 2024 - Alternatively, Python provides a built-in function list() that, when called without any arguments, returns an empty list. This method is equally effective, though slightly more verbose.
Find elsewhere
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Curict
en.curict.com โ€บ item โ€บ 9a โ€บ 9a5983d.html
Checking if a Python list is empty
In Python, an empty sequence (an empty list) is considered False, so you can use the if not operator to check if a list is empty.
๐ŸŒ
Medium
medium.com โ€บ swlh โ€บ efficiently-checking-for-an-empty-list-in-python-76b76099fbd3
Efficiently Checking for an Empty List in Python | by Frank Scholl | The Startup | Medium
November 22, 2019 - ... For sequences, (strings, lists, tuples), use the fact that empty sequences are false.Yes: if not seq: if seq: No: if len(seq): if not len(seq): Empirically, the best way to check for an empty list in Python is by implicit boolean conversion.
๐ŸŒ
Medium
pavolkutaj.medium.com โ€บ how-to-check-if-a-list-dict-or-set-is-empty-in-python-as-per-pep8-35d8c64d07d0
How to Check if a List, Dict or Set is Empty in Python as per PEP8 | by Pavol Z. Kutaj | Medium
September 7, 2023 - see https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__bool__ >>> a = [] >>> bool(a) False >>> a = [1] >>> bool(a) True ยท The canonical way of knowing if an array in C is empty is by dereferencing the first element and seeing if it is null, assuming an array that is nul-terminated.
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Flexiple
flexiple.com โ€บ python โ€บ check-if-list-is-empty-python
Python isEmpty() equivalent โ€“ How to Check if a List is Empty in Python - Flexiple - Flexiple
March 14, 2022 - This method is concise and commonly ... in Python following PEP8 recommendations, the most Pythonic way is to use the implicit boolean evaluation of the list....
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Quora
quora.com โ€บ How-do-I-check-if-a-list-is-empty-in-Python
How to check if a list is empty in Python - Quora
Answer (1 of 8): It is very easy to check whether a given list in python is empty or not. you just have to use the check if len(list) is null: print(โ€œempty listโ€)
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Vultr
docs.vultr.com โ€บ python โ€บ examples โ€บ check-if-a-list-is-empty
Python Program to Check If a List is Empty | Vultr Docs
December 6, 2024 - Checking if a list is empty is a common task in Python programming, especially when dealing with data that varies in content. An empty list can signify that data is missing, not generated, or has been entirely consumed by previous operations.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org โ€บ python โ€บ declare-an-empty-list-in-python
Declare an Empty List in Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 12, 2025 - Declaring an empty list in Python creates a list with no elements, ready to store data dynamically.
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com โ€บ how-to-check-if-a-list-is-empty-in-python
How to check if a list is empty in Python?
April 23, 2025 - The list is empty if the list size equals zero. The following program checks whether the input list is empty or not using the __len__() function -
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Squash
squash.io โ€บ how-to-check-if-list-is-empty-in-python
How To Check If List Is Empty In Python
December 21, 2023 - In this example, we define an empty list my_list and then use the len() function to check its length. If the length is equal to zero, we print "The list is empty". Otherwise, we print "The list is not empty".
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Python documentation
docs.python.org โ€บ 3 โ€บ tutorial โ€บ datastructures.html
5. Data Structures โ€” Python 3.14.3 documentation
Lists are mutable, and their elements are usually homogeneous and are accessed by iterating over the list. A special problem is the construction of tuples containing 0 or 1 items: the syntax has some extra quirks to accommodate these. Empty tuples are constructed by an empty pair of parentheses; a tuple with one item is constructed by following a value with a comma (it is not sufficient to enclose a single value in parentheses).
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Python Engineer
python-engineer.com โ€บ posts โ€บ check-if-list-is-empty
How to check if a List is empty in Python - Python Engineer
Among other rules it defines that empty sequences and collections like '', (), [], {}, set(), range(0) are all considered false. Another way which also works but is not necessary is to check if the length is equal to 0: ... Although the first ...