Python – Swap elements in String list

Sometimes, while working with data records we can have a problem in which we need to perform certain swap operation in which we need to change one element with other over entire string list. This has application in both day-day and data Science domain. Lets discuss certain ways in which this task can be performed.

Method #1 : Using replace() + list comprehension
The combination of above functionalities can be used to perform this task. In this, we iterate through list using list comprehension and task of swapping is performed using replace().

# Python3 code to demonstrate
# Swap elements in String list
# using replace() + list comprehension

# Initializing list
test_list = ['Gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'Geeks']

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

# Swap elements in String list
# using replace() + list comprehension
res = [sub.replace('G', '-').replace('e', 'G').replace('-', 'e') for sub in test_list]

# printing result
print ("List after performing character swaps : " + str(res))

Output :

The original list is : ['Gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'Geeks']
List after performing character swaps : ['efg', 'is', 'bGst', 'for', 'eGGks']

Method #2 : Using join() + replace() + split()
The combination of above methods can also be used to perform this task. In this, the task of replace is same, but we use join() and split() with same parameter to perform task of list comprehension.

# Python3 code to demonstrate
# Swap elements in String list
# using replace() + join() + split()

# Initializing list
test_list = ['Gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'Geeks']

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

# Swap elements in String list
# using replace() + join() + split()
res = ", ".join(test_list)
res = res.replace("G", "_").replace("e", "G").replace("_", "e").split(', ')

# printing result
print ("List after performing character swaps : " + str(res))

Output :

The original list is : ['Gfg', 'is', 'best', 'for', 'Geeks']
List after performing character swaps : ['efg', 'is', 'bGst', 'for', 'eGGks']