How To Resolve IndexError: pop index out of range in Python 

IndexError: pop index out of range in Python

What is the cause of the error IndexError: pop index out of range in Python? If you are looking for an answer to this problem, the following article is for you. I will show the cause of the error and some ways to solve it. Hope you will read the whole article.

What causes the IndexError: pop index out of range in Python error?

Syntax:

list.pop(index)

The list.pop() function is used to remove a specified element from the list, and the return result of the function is the removed element.

The error happens because you passed an index that doesn’t exist in the list.  

Example: 

languages = ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

# Use the list.pop() method but have no control over the index in the list.
languages.pop(5)
print(languages)

Output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "./prog.py", line 4, in <module>
IndexError: pop index out of range

How to solve the IndexError: pop index out of range in Python error?

List index control.

To solve this error, you must remember that only the first item in the list is 0. The last element has an index of list length – 1.

Example:

  • I created a list of 4 elements. I want to remove the first element, then the index of that element will be 0.
languages = ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

# Use the list.the pop() method removed the element at index 0
print('Deleted element:', languages.pop(0))
print(languages)

Output:

Deleted element: Python
['C/C++', 'Java', 'Javascript']

If the list.pop() function parameter is not passed, and the last element of the list is removed.

Example:

languages = ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

# If no argument is passed, the function will remove the last element of the list
print('Deleted element:', languages.pop())
print(languages)

Output:

Deleted element: JavaScript
['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java']

Use try/except.

Example:

languages = ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

try:
	print('Deleted element:', languages.pop(5))
	print(languages)

except IndexError:
	print(f'The element does not exist in the list {languages}')

Output:

The element does not exist in the list ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

Add elements to the list.

If the index you need to remove does not exist in the list, you can fix the error by adding elements to the list to be equal to or greater than the index you passed to the function, from which the error will be resolved.

Example:

  • I want to remove an element with an index of 5, but obviously, the last element has an index of 3.
  • I perform two more elements to appear with an index of 5. Perform normal delete.
languages = ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript']

# Add an element to the end of the list using the list.append() function
languages.append('Nodejs')
languages.append('R')
print(f'The list after adding two elements: {languages}')

# Remove the 5th element
print('Deleted element:', languages.pop(5))

Output:

The list after adding two elements : ['Python', 'C/C++', 'Java', 'JavaScript', 'Nodejs', 'R']
Deleted element: R

Summary

Article on how to solve the error IndexError: pop index out of range in Python is over. The leading cause of that error is that you have no control over the index range in the list. Remember the first element in the list has an index of 0. If there are other ways or ideas about the article, please leave a comment.

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