What Causes an IndexError in Python

  • Accessing Non-Existent Index: When you attempt to access an index of a sequence (such as a list or a string) that is out of range, an Indexerror is raised. Sequences in Python are zero-indexed, which means that the first element’s index is 0, the second element’s index is 1, and so on.
  • Empty List: If you try to access an element from an empty list, an Indexerror will be raised since there are no elements in the list to access.

Example: Here our list is 3 and we are printing with size 4 so in this case, it will create a list index out of range.

Python3




j = [1, 2, 4]
print(j[4])


Output

    print(j[4])
          ~^^^
IndexError: list index out of range

Similarly, we can also get an Indexerror when using negative indices.

Python3




my_string = "w3wiki"
print(my_string[-61])


Output

    print(my_string[-61])
          ~~~~~~~~~^^^^^
IndexError: string index out of range

Python List Index Out of Range – How to Fix IndexError

In Python, the IndexError is a common exception that occurs when trying to access an element in a list, tuple, or any other sequence using an index that is outside the valid range of indices for that sequence. List Index Out of Range Occur in Python when an item from a list is tried to be accessed that is outside the range of the list. Before we proceed to fix the error, let’s discuss how indexing work in Python.

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What Causes an IndexError in Python

Accessing Non-Existent Index: When you attempt to access an index of a sequence (such as a list or a string) that is out of range, an Indexerror is raised. Sequences in Python are zero-indexed, which means that the first element’s index is 0, the second element’s index is 1, and so on. Empty List: If you try to access an element from an empty list, an Indexerror will be raised since there are no elements in the list to access....

How to Fix IndexError in Python

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How to Fix List Index Out of Range in Python

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