Python | Consecutive Pair Minimums

Sometimes, while working with Python list, one can have a problem in which one needs to find perform the minimum of list in pair form. This is useful as a subproblem solution of bigger problem in web development and day-day programming. Let’s discuss certain ways in which this problem can be solved.

Method #1 : Using loop
This is the brute force method to perform this particular task. In this, we just iterate the list till last element in skipped manner to get all the pair minimum in other list in iterative way.

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of 
# Consecutive Pair Minimums 
# Using loop 
  
# initializing list 
test_list = [4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17] 
  
# printing list 
print("The original list : " + str(test_list)) 
  
# Consecutive Pair Minimums 
# Using loop 
res = [] 
for ele in range(0, len(test_list), 2): 
    res.append(min(test_list[ele], test_list[ele + 1])) 
  
# Printing result 
print("Pair minimum of list : " + str(res)) 

Output :

The original list : [4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17]
Pair minimum of list : [4, 8, 10]

Method #2 : Using zip() + min() + list comprehension
This task can also be performed using the combination of above functionalities. In this, we just iterate the list and the task of combining pairs is performed by zip(). Works only on Python2.

# Python code to demonstrate working of 
# Consecutive Pair Minimums 
# zip() + list comprehension + min() 
  
# initializing list 
test_list = [4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17] 
  
# printing list 
print("The original list : " + str(test_list)) 
  
# Consecutive Pair Minimums 
# zip() + list comprehension + min() 
res = [min(i, j) for i, j in zip(test_list, test_list[1:])[::2]] 
  
# Printing result 
print("Pair minimum of list : " + str(res)) 

Output :

The original list : [4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17]
Pair minimum of list : [4, 8, 10]

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