Python | Insert after every Nth element in a list

Sometimes we need to perform a single insertion in python, this can be easily done with the help of the insert function. But sometimes, we require to insert in a repeated manner after every n numbers, for that there can be numerous shorthands that can be quite handy. Lets discuss certain ways in which this can be done.

Method #1 : Using join() + enumerate()
We can use the join function to join each of nth substring with the digit K and enumerate can do the task of performing the selective iteration of list.

# Python3 code to demonstrate  
# inserting K after every Nth number 
# using join() + enumerate() 
  
# initializing list 
test_list = ['g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's', 'f', 'o', 'r', 
                            'g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's'] 
  
# printing original list 
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list)) 
  
# initializing k  
k = 'x'
  
# initializing N 
N = 3
  
# using join() + enumerate() 
# inserting K after every Nth number  
res = list(''.join(i + k * (N % 3 == 2)  
           for N, i in enumerate(test_list))) 
  
# printing result  
print ("The lists after insertion : " +  str(res)) 

Output:

The original list is : [‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘f’, ‘o’, ‘r’, ‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘s’]
The lists after insertion : [‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘x’, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘f’, ‘x’, ‘o’, ‘r’, ‘g’, ‘x’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘x’, ‘s’]

Method #2 : Using itertools.chain()
This method also has the ability to perform a similar task using an iterator and hence an improvement in the performance. This function performs a similar task but uses chain method to join the n substrings.

# Python3 code to demonstrate  
# inserting K after every Nth number 
# using itertool.chain() 
from itertools import chain 
  
# initializing list 
test_list = ['g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's', 'f', 'o', 'r', 
                            'g', 'e', 'e', 'k', 's'] 
  
# printing original list 
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list)) 
  
# initializing k  
k = 'x'
  
# initializing N 
N = 3
  
# using itertool.chain() 
# inserting K after every Nth number  
res = list(chain(*[test_list[i : i+N] + [k]  
            if len(test_list[i : i+N]) == N  
            else test_list[i : i+N]  
            for i in range(0, len(test_list), N)])) 
  
# printing result  
print ("The lists after insertion : " + str(res)) 

Output:

The original list is : [‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘f’, ‘o’, ‘r’, ‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘s’]
The lists after insertion : [‘g’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘x’, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘f’, ‘x’, ‘o’, ‘r’, ‘g’, ‘x’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘k’, ‘x’, ‘s’]

My Personal Notes

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