You can specify the stride (including a negative stride) as the third argument, so
range(10,-11,-1)
gives
[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10]
In general, it doesn't cost anything to try. You can simply type this into the interpreter and see what it does.
This is all documented here as:
range(start, stop[, step])
but mostly I'd like to encourage you to play around and see what happens. As you can see, your intuition was spot on.
Answer from Useless on Stack Overflow Top answer 1 of 9
91
You can specify the stride (including a negative stride) as the third argument, so
range(10,-11,-1)
gives
[10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10]
In general, it doesn't cost anything to try. You can simply type this into the interpreter and see what it does.
This is all documented here as:
range(start, stop[, step])
but mostly I'd like to encourage you to play around and see what happens. As you can see, your intuition was spot on.
2 of 9
12
Yes, by defining a step:
for i in range(10, -11, -1):
print(i)
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › what-is-negative-indexing-in-python
What is Negative Indexing in Python? - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - Using a negative index that exceeds the length of the sequence will raise an IndexError. Python · a = [1, 2, 3] print(a[-4]) # Error: IndexError: list index out of range · Comment · Python Fundamentals · Introduction1 min read · Input & ...
03:04
Negative Indexing lists in Python to prevent index out of range ...
01:39
Range of Negative Indexes in Python Tuples | Amit Thinks - YouTube
01:11
Negative Indexing in Python Lists with Example - YouTube
00:51
What's a negative index in python? #python #pythonforbeginners ...
01:13
Negative Indexing in Python | AmitThinks - YouTube
Medium
medium.com › @journalehsan › what-is-negative-indexing-in-python-and-how-to-use-it-34ec7ac5b36
What is Negative Indexing in Python and How to Use It? 🐍 | by Ehsan Tork | Medium
June 9, 2023 - Here are some examples and use cases of negative indexing in Python: Getting the last element of a sequence. You can use an index of -1 to get the last element of any sequence. For example: a = [1, 2, 3, 4] # a list of four numbers b = «Hello» ...
W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › gloss_python_string_negative_indexing.asp
Python String Negative Indexing
W3Schools offers free online tutorials, references and exercises in all the major languages of the web. Covering popular subjects like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, Java, and many, many more.
Wordaligned
wordaligned.org › articles › negative-sequence-indices-in-python
Negative Sequence Indices in Python
August 1, 2016 - >>> digits[-1000000] Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> IndexError: list index out of range >>> digits[1000000] Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> IndexError: list index out of range >>> digits[-1000000:1000000] [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] Sequence slicing also takes a step parameter. >>> digits[::2] [0, 2, 4, 6, 8] >>> digits[1::2] [1, 3, 5, 7, 9] This parameter too can be negative.
Educative
educative.io › answers › what-is-negative-indexing-in-python
What is negative indexing in Python?
For element 15, we can use the index -2 and so on. Note: Negative indexes start from index number -1, while positive indexes start from index number 0.
Codingem
codingem.com › home › negative indexing in python: a step-by-step guide (examples)
Negative Indexing in Python: A Step-by-Step Guide (Examples)
November 1, 2022 - Python indexing can be started from the end of the iterable. This is called negative indexing. -1 is the last value, -2 is the 2nd last.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python-negative-index-of-element-in-list
Python - Negative index of Element in List - GeeksforGeeks
January 29, 2025 - When the element is found the negative index is calculated by subtracting the current index from the total length of the list ensuring the result is in negative form. ... The task of removing negative elements from a list in Python involves ...
EITCA
eitca.org › home › how do negative indexes work in python when accessing elements in a list?
How do negative indexes work in Python when accessing elements in a list? - EITCA Academy
August 3, 2023 - If we try to access an element beyond the bounds of the list, a "IndexError: list index out of range" error will be raised. Negative indexes in Python provide a convenient way to access elements in a list from the end instead of the beginning. They can be used to retrieve individual elements ...
Execute Program
executeprogram.com › courses › python-for-programmers › lessons › negative-indexing
Python for Programmers: Negative Indexing
Learn programming languages like TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, SQL, and regular expressions. Interactive with real code examples.
freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › python-range-function-explained-with-code-examples
Python range() Function – Explained with Code Examples
October 6, 2021 - There's no default value for negative step – you must set negative_step = -1 to count down covering each number. ▶ In this example, you'd like to count down from 20 in steps of -2. So the sequence is 20, 18, 16, all the way down to 2. If ...
LabEx
labex.io › tutorials › python-how-to-handle-negative-offsets-in-python-list-manipulation-415476
How to handle negative offsets in Python list manipulation | LabEx
The index range for a Python list with n elements is from -n to n-1. This means that the valid negative indices range from -1 (the last element) to -n (the first element).
AskPython
askpython.com › python › list › negative-indexing
Negative Indexing in Python List - How to Use "-1" Parameter - AskPython
April 4, 2023 - The process of indexing from the opposite end is called Negative Indexing. In negative Indexing, the last element is represented by -1. ... We have a built-in function reverse() in Python to reverse a list, let’s take a look.
Knowledgehills
knowledgehills.com › python › negative-indexing-slicing-stepping-comparing-lists.htm
Python Lists – Negative Indexing, Slicing, Stepping, Comparing, Max and Min – Knowledge Hills
Well, the answer is “Alex”, this is because when you give a negative index number Python counts the element from the right. The rightmost element is at the index of -1. Few other programming languages have this negative index, but this feature is extremely useful.
TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › what-is-a-negative-indexing-in-python
What is a Negative Indexing in Python?
August 25, 2023 - Negative indexing in Python allows you to access elements from the end of a sequence (string, list, tuple) by using negative numbers. Instead of counting from the beginning (0, 1, 2...), negative indexing counts backwards from the last element (-1,
Quora
quora.com › What-is-negative-index-in-Python
What is negative index in Python? - Quora
Answer (1 of 24): Negative index is a useful concept allowing you to easily index an array (or list in Python’s case) relative from the end rather than the beginning. The logic of negative index is very simple and straightforward. Imagine that you’ve got an array of length n. That is to ...
Omz Software
omz-software.com › pythonista › numpy › reference › arrays.indexing.html
Indexing — NumPy v1.8 Manual
As in Python, all indices are zero-based: for the i-th index n_i, the valid range is 0 \le n_i < d_i where d_i is the i-th element of the shape of the array. Negative indices are interpreted as counting from the end of the array (i.e., if i < 0, it means n_i + i).
Top answer 1 of 2
239
Negative numbers mean that you count from the right instead of the left. So, list[-1] refers to the last element, list[-2] is the second-last, and so on.
2 of 2
18
List indexes of -x mean the xth item from the end of the list, so n[-1] means the last item in the list n. Any good Python tutorial should have told you this.
It's an unusual convention that only a few other languages besides Python have adopted, but it is extraordinarily useful; in any other language you'll spend a lot of time writing n[n.length-1] to access the last item of a list.
TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › positive-and-negative-indices-in-python
Positive and negative indices in Python?
May 5, 2023 - Negative indexing is supported in arrays in the Python computer language but not in most other programming languages. This means that the index value of -1 offers the final element, and -2 gives the second last element of an array.