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    Python | Append suffix/prefix to strings in list

    Last Updated : 03 May, 2023
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    Sometimes, while working with Python, we can a problem in which we need to pad strings in lists at trailing or leading position. This kind of problem is quite common and can occur in day-day programming or web development. Let's discuss a way in which this task can be performed. 

    Method #1: Using + operator + list comprehension In this task, we just append the string at rear or front position using + operator and list comprehension is used to iterate through all the elements. 

    Python3
    # Python3 code to demonstrate working of 
    # Append suffix / prefix to strings in list 
    # Using list comprehension + "+" operator 
    
    # initializing list 
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'] 
    
    # printing list 
    print("The original list : " + str(test_list)) 
    
    # initializing append_str 
    append_str = 'gfg'
    
    # Append suffix / prefix to strings in list 
    pre_res = [append_str + sub for sub in test_list] 
    suf_res = [sub + append_str for sub in test_list] 
    
    # Printing result 
    print("list after prefix addition : " + str(pre_res)) 
    print("list after suffix addition : " + str(suf_res)) 
    
    Output : 
     
    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    list after prefix addition : ['gfga', 'gfgb', 'gfgc', 'gfgd']
    list after suffix addition : ['agfg', 'bgfg', 'cgfg', 'dgfg']

    Time Complexity: O(n)
    Auxiliary Space: O(n)

    Method #2: Using itertools.starmap(): The python library itertools provides a function called "starmap()" which can be used to apply the same function to multiple inputs from an iterable, in this case, it can be used to append the suffix/prefix to each string in the list, this approach would have a time complexity of O(n) and auxiliary space of O(n) as well.

    Python3
    #Using itertools.starmap()
    import itertools
    
    #initializing list
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    
    #printing original list
    print("The original list :", test_list)
    
    #initializing append_str
    append_str = 'gfg'
    
    #Append suffix / prefix to strings in list
    pre_res = list(itertools.starmap(lambda s: append_str + s, test_list))
    suf_res = list(itertools.starmap(lambda s: s + append_str, test_list))
    
    #Printing result
    print("list after prefix addition :", pre_res)
    print("list after suffix addition :", suf_res)
    

    Output
    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    list after prefix addition : ['gfga', 'gfgb', 'gfgc', 'gfgd']
    list after suffix addition : ['agfg', 'bgfg', 'cgfg', 'dgfg']

    Method #3: Using map and lambda functions

    Python3
    def add_prefix_suffix(lst, prefix, suffix):
    
        pre_res = list(map(lambda x: prefix + x, lst))
    
        suf_res = list(map(lambda x: x + suffix, lst))
    
        return pre_res, suf_res
    
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    
    print("The original list :", test_list)
    
    pre_res, suf_res = add_prefix_suffix(test_list, 'gfg', 'gfg')
    
    print("list after prefix addition :", pre_res)
    
    print("list after suffix addition :", suf_res)
    #This code is contributed by Vinay Pinjala.
    

    Output
    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    list after prefix addition : ['gfga', 'gfgb', 'gfgc', 'gfgd']
    list after suffix addition : ['agfg', 'bgfg', 'cgfg', 'dgfg']

    Time Complexity: O(n)
    Auxiliary Space: O(n)

    Method #4: Using For loop.

    Python3
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    prefix,suffix='gfg', 'gfg'
    print("The original list :", test_list)
    pre_res = []
    suf_res = []
    for item in test_list:
      pre_res.append(prefix + item)
      suf_res.append(item + suffix)
    
    print("list after prefix addition :", pre_res)
    
    print("list after suffix addition :", suf_res)
    #This code is contributed by tvsk.
    

    Output
    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    list after prefix addition : ['gfga', 'gfgb', 'gfgc', 'gfgd']
    list after suffix addition : ['agfg', 'bgfg', 'cgfg', 'dgfg']

    Time Complexity: O(n)
    Auxiliary Space: O(n)

    Method #5: Using numpy module:

    Step-by-step approach:

    • Initialize an empty list to store the result of prefix addition and another empty list to store the result of suffix addition.
    • Iterate through the original list, and for each element, append the prefix to the beginning of the element and append the result to the prefix addition list.
    • Similarly, append the suffix to the end of the element and append the result to the suffix addition list.
    • Print the original list, prefix addition list, and suffix addition list.
    Python3
    import numpy as np
    # initializing list
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    prefix,suffix='gfg', 'gfg'
    pre_res = np.char.add(prefix, test_list)
    suf_res = np.char.add(test_list, suffix)
    # printing list
    print("The original list :", test_list)
    # Printing result
    print("list after prefix addition :", pre_res)
    print("list after suffix addition :", suf_res)
    #This code is contributed by Jyothi Pinjala.
    

    Output:

    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    list after prefix addition : ['gfga' 'gfgb' 'gfgc' 'gfgd']
    list after suffix addition : ['agfg' 'bgfg' 'cgfg' 'dgfg']

    Time complexity: O(n), where n is the number of elements in the input list. This is because we iterate through each element once to perform the prefix and suffix addition.
    Auxiliary Space: O(n), where n is the number of elements in the input list. This is because we create two lists of size n to store the results of the prefix and suffix addition

    Method #6: Using the reduce() function from the functools module

    Step-by-step approach:

    • Import the reduce() function from the functools module.
    • Create a test_list of strings.
    • Create two variables prefix and suffix with the desired string values.
    • Use the reduce() function with a lambda expression to iterate through each element item in test_list, concatenate prefix to it, and append the result to pre_res.
    • Use the reduce() function with a lambda expression to iterate through each element item in test_list, concatenate suffix to it, and append the result to suf_res.
    • Print the original list, test_list, the list after prefix addition, pre_res, and the list after suffix addition, suf_res.
    Python3
    from functools import reduce
    
    test_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    prefix, suffix = 'gfg', 'gfg'
    pre_res = reduce(lambda res, item: res + [prefix + item], test_list, [])
    suf_res = reduce(lambda res, item: res + [item + suffix], test_list, [])
    print("The original list :", test_list)
    print("List after prefix addition :", pre_res)
    print("List after suffix addition :", suf_res)
    

    Output
    The original list : ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
    List after prefix addition : ['gfga', 'gfgb', 'gfgc', 'gfgd']
    List after suffix addition : ['agfg', 'bgfg', 'cgfg', 'dgfg']

    Time complexity: O(n), where n is the length of test_list. 
    Auxiliary space: O(n), where n is the length of test_list.

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    Article Tags :
    • Python
    • Python Programs
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