Because it's more common to call range(0, 10) which returns [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] which contains 10 elements which equals len(range(0, 10)). There's a tendency in programming to use 0-based indexing.
Also, consider the following common code snippet:
for i in range(len(li)):
pass
Could you see that if range() went up to exactly len(li) that this would be problematic? The programmer would need to explicitly subtract 1. This also follows the common trend of programmers preferring for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) over for(int i = 0; i <= 9; i++).
If you are calling range with a start of 1 frequently, you might want to define your own function:
>>> def range1(start, end):
... return range(start, end+1)
...
>>> range1(1, 10)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Because it's more common to call range(0, 10) which returns [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] which contains 10 elements which equals len(range(0, 10)). There's a tendency in programming to use 0-based indexing.
Also, consider the following common code snippet:
for i in range(len(li)):
pass
Could you see that if range() went up to exactly len(li) that this would be problematic? The programmer would need to explicitly subtract 1. This also follows the common trend of programmers preferring for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) over for(int i = 0; i <= 9; i++).
If you are calling range with a start of 1 frequently, you might want to define your own function:
>>> def range1(start, end):
... return range(start, end+1)
...
>>> range1(1, 10)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Although there are some useful algorithmic explanations here, I think it may help to add some simple 'real life' reasoning as to why it works this way, which I have found useful when introducing the subject to young newcomers:
With something like 'range(1,10)' confusion can arise from thinking that pair of parameters represents the "start and end".
It is actually start and "stop".
Now, if it were the "end" value then, yes, you might expect that number would be included as the final entry in the sequence. But it is not the "end".
Others mistakenly call that parameter "count" because if you only ever use 'range(n)' then it does, of course, iterate 'n' times. This logic breaks down when you add the start parameter.
So the key point is to remember its name: "stop". That means it is the point at which, when reached, iteration will stop immediately. Not after that point.
So, while "start" does indeed represent the first value to be included, on reaching the "stop" value it 'breaks' rather than continuing to process 'that one as well' before stopping.
One analogy that I have used in explaining this to kids is that, ironically, it is better behaved than kids! It doesn't stop after it supposed to - it stops immediately without finishing what it was doing. (They get this ;) )
Another analogy - when you drive a car you don't pass a stop/yield/'give way' sign and end up with it sitting somewhere next to, or behind, your car. Technically you still haven't reached it when you do stop. It is not included in the 'things you passed on your journey'.
I hope some of that helps in explaining to Pythonitos/Pythonitas!
How do you start a for loop at 1 instead of 0?
Understanding Range() function in python. [Level: Absolute Beginner]
python - Pythonic way to iterate through a range starting at 1 - Stack Overflow
Allow `range(start, None, step)` for an endless range - Ideas - Discussions on Python.org
Videos
I am pulling data from a dictionary and appending it to a list, but it appears that dictionary keys start at 1, not 0.
We have been taught to use for loops for this kind of task, but they initialize at 0. Can I start at 1? If not, what is an alternative? Thanks!
for i in range(len(dict)):
<code goes here>I first thought that it just returns numbers and you can do a lot of stuff with those numbers but now I am seeing that it is being used to run a loop a specific number of times. It's just not making sense to me why this works, like I can't intuitively understand it.
Tho I have started using in my code, an explanation on why it was developed this way would help.
From the documentation:
range([start], stop[, step])
The start defaults to 0, the step can be whatever you want, except 0 and stop is your upper bound, it is not the number of iterations. So declare n to be whatever your upper bound is correctly and you will not have to add 1 to it.
e.g.
>>> for i in range(1, 7, 1): print(i)
...
1
2
3
4
5
6
>>> for i in range(1, 7, 2): print(i)
...
1
3
5
A nice feature, is that it works in reverse as well.
>>> for i in range(7, 0, -1): print(i)
...
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
If you aren't using it as an index but for something that can have positive or negative values, it still comes in handy:
>>> for i in range(2, -3, -1): print(i)
...
2
1
0
-1
-2
>>> for i in range(-2, 3, 1): print(i)
...
-2
-1
0
1
2
range(1, n+1) is not considered duplication, but I can see that this might become a hassle if you were going to change 1 to another number.
This removes the duplication using a generator:
for _ in (number+1 for number in range(5)):
print(_)
What is happening here for example? It doesn't make sense to me.
for i in range(len(word1)-1, -1, -1):
for j in range(len(word2) -1, -1, -1):Wouldn't this be invalid? Getting the range -1 to -1, going -1 at a time? Is that whats happening?
Is this subtracting 1 from the range on each iteration? How come its formatted this way if so? Wouldnt it be (len(word1)-1) if they were trying to do that? These parameters don't make sense. Help?