How do I get the last element of a list in Python?

Better Stack Team
Updated on January 26, 2023

To get the last element of a list in Python, you can use the negative indexing feature of the list data type. For example:

 
my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
last_element = my_list[-1]  # last_element will be 5

You can also use the len() function to get the length of the list and use it to index the last element. For example:

 
my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
last_element = my_list[len(my_list) - 1]  # last_element will be 5

Both of these approaches will work regardless of the length of the list.

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