Python: Remove the first item from a specified list

Last update on May 17 2025 05:43:16 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Remove First List Item

Write a Python program to remove the first item from a specified list.

Sample Solution-1:

Python Code:

# Create a list of color names
color = ["Red", "Black", "Green", "White", "Orange"]

# Print the original list elements
print("Original list elements:")
print(color)

# Remove the first element (element at index 0) from the list
del color[0]
# Print the list after removing the first color
print("After removing the first color: ")
print(color)
print()

Sample Output:

Original list elements:
['Red', 'Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']
After removing the first color:
['Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

Sample Solution-2:

Python Code:

# Create a list of color names
color = ["Red", "Black", "Green", "White", "Orange"]

# Print the original list elements
print("Original list elements:")
print(color)

# Print a message indicating the operation that will be performed
print("\nAfter removing the first element from the said list:")

# Create a new list 'new_color' by slicing the original list from the second element (index 1) to the end
new_color = color[1:]

# Print the modified list after removing the first element
print(new_color)

Sample Output:

Original list elements:
['Red', 'Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

After removing the first element from the said list:
['Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

Sample Solution-3:

Python Code:

# Create a list of color names
color = ["Red", "Black", "Green", "White", "Orange"]

# Print a message indicating the original list elements
print("Original list elements:")

# Print the original list elements
print(color)

# Print a message indicating the operation that will be performed
print("\nAfter removing the first element from the said list:")

# Remove the element "Red" from the list
color.remove("Red")

# Print the modified list after removing the element
print(color)

Sample Output:

Original list elements:
['Red', 'Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

After removing the first element from the said list:
['Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

Sample Solution-4:

Use slice notation to return the last element if the list's length is more than 1.
Otherwise, return the whole list.

Python Code:

# Define a function named "tail" that takes a list "lst" as input.
def tail(lst):
  # Check if the length of the list is greater than 1.
  if len(lst) > 1:
    # If the list has more than one element, return a new list containing all elements except the first one.
    return lst[1:]
  else:
    # If the list has only one element or is empty, return the original list.
    return lst

# Call the "tail" function with different lists and print the results.
print(tail([1, 2, 3, 4]))  # Should print [2, 3, 4]
print(tail([1]))          # Should print [1] (no change)
print(tail(["Red", "Black", "Green", "White", "Orange"]))  # Should print ["Black", "Green", "White", "Orange"]

Sample Output:

[2, 3, 4]
[1]
['Black', 'Green', 'White', 'Orange']

Flowchart:

Flowchart: Remove the first item from a specified list.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program to remove the last item from a list.
Write a Python program to remove an element at a given index from a list.
Write a Python program to remove all occurrences of a specific value from a list.
Write a Python program to remove duplicate elements from a list while preserving order.

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