list.pop

Removes an item from a list and returns it.

Synopsis

items.pop()
items.pop(index)

Description

Without an index, pop removes the last item. With an index, it removes the item at that position.

Parameters

Return value

The item that was removed.

Example

stack = ["a", "b", "c"]
last = stack.pop()
print(last)
print(stack)
first = stack.pop(0)
print(first, stack)

It prints:

c
['a', 'b']
a ['b']

Common mistake

items = []
items.pop()

Python stops with:

IndexError: pop from empty list

An empty list has nothing to remove. Check if items: first.

See also

list.append, Indexing and slicing

list.pop in the Python documentation