[FIXED] Best way to get first single value of list

Issue

What is the fastest and best way to get first value from list? There are multiple techniques, but what is the best (memory and speed) and why?

Examples below. I would be grateful for other techniques as well:

listis = [1, 2, 3, 4]

### 1:
###----------

value = next(iter(listis))

print(value)

### 2:
###----------

value = listis[0]

print(value)

### 3:
###----------

value, *args = listis

print(value)

Solution

value = listis[0] is going to be unbeatable here as it’s just creating a new name (value) referencing listis[0].

More importantly, it’s obvious what you actually mean. That makes life much better for the next person who looks at your code, who will likely be you.

Try:

import timeit
print(timeit.timeit("value = next(iter(listis))", setup="listis = [1, 2, 3, 4]", number=1_000_000))
print(timeit.timeit("value = listis[0]", setup="listis = [1, 2, 3, 4]", number=1_000_000))
print(timeit.timeit("value, *args = listis", setup="listis = [1, 2, 3, 4]", number=1_000_000))

This will show you that value = listis[0] is the fastest.

0.0976
0.0264
0.1190

Answered By - Kirk Strauser