Python | Convert list of strings and characters to list of characters

Sometimes we come forward to the problem in which we receive a list that consists of strings and characters mixed and the task we need to perform is converting that mixed list to a list consisting entirely of characters. Let’s discuss certain ways in which this is achieved.

Method #1 : Using List comprehension
In this method, we just consider each list element as string and iterate their each character and append each character to the newly created target list.

# Python3 code to demonstrate
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
# using list comprehension

# initializing list
test_list = [ 'gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']

# printing original list
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list))

# using list comprehension
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
res = [i for ele in test_list for i in ele]

# printing result
print ("The list after conversion is : " +  str(res))

Output:

The original list is : ['gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']
The list after conversion is : ['g', 'f', 'g', 'i', 's', 'b', 'e', 's', 't']

Method #2 : Using join()

join function can be used to open the string and then join each letter with empty string resulting in a single character extraction. The end result has to be type casted to list for desired result.

# Python3 code to demonstrate
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
# using join()

# initializing list
test_list = [ 'gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']

# printing original list
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list))

# using join()
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
res = list(''.join(test_list))

# printing result
print ("The list after conversion is : " +  str(res))

Output:

The original list is : ['gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']
The list after conversion is : ['g', 'f', 'g', 'i', 's', 'b', 'e', 's', 't']

Method #3 : Using chain.from_iterable()

from_iterable function performs the similar task of firstly opening each string and then joining the characters one by one. This is the most pythonic way to perform this particular task.

# Python3 code to demonstrate
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
# using chain.from_iterable()
from itertools import chain

# initializing list
test_list = [ 'gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']

# printing original list
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list))

# using chain.from_iterable()
# to convert list of string and characters
# to list of characters
res = list(chain.from_iterable(test_list))

# printing result
print ("The list after conversion is : " +  str(res))

Output:

The original list is : ['gfg', 'i', 's', 'be', 's', 't']
The list after conversion is : ['g', 'f', 'g', 'i', 's', 'b', 'e', 's', 't']