How to get the nth element of a python list or a default if not available

Question

Hi guys

I'm looking for an equivalent in python of dictionary.get(key, default) for lists. Is there any one liner idiom to get the nth element of a list or a default value if not available?

For example, given a list myList I would like to get myList[0], or 5 if myList is an empty list

Thanks!

Answer 1

x[index] if len(x) > index else default

Answer 2

try:
   a = b[n]
except IndexError:
   a = default

Edit: I removed the check for TypeError - probably better to let the caller handle this.

Answer 3

(L[n:n+1] or [somedefault])[0]

Answer 4

(a[n:]+[default])[0]

This is probably better as a gets larger

(a[n:n+1]+[default])[0]