python - How do I loop through each string in my list? -

i tried piece of code, performs function on first string in list:

returns first , last 2 characters of given list of strings

def both_ends(list):     finallist = []     s in list:         if s > 2:             return s[0] + s[1] + s[-2] + s[-1]         else:             return s      finallist.append(s)     return finallist  list = ('apple', 'pizza', 'x', 'joke') print both_ends(string) 

how make function run through of strings in list?

yes, because returning result directly , returns after go through first string itself. instead should put result in finallist create , return result @ end.

and other things -

1. as said in other answer, want check length of string.

2. the length of string should greater 4 , otherwise, end adding characters multiple times.

3. do not use names list variables, ends shadowing builtin functions , not able use list() create list after that.

4. last issue should call function list, not string .

example -

def both_ends(list):     finallist = []     s in list:         if len(s) > 4:             finallist.append(s[:2] + s[-2:])         else:             finallist.append(s)     return finallist 

---

an easier way -

def both_ends(s):     return s[:2] + s[-2:] if len(s) > 4 else s  lst = ('apple', 'pizza', 'x', 'joke') print map(both_ends, lst)          #you need `list(map(...))` python 3.x 

demo -

>>> def both_ends(s): ...     return s[:2] + s[-2:] if len(s) > 4 else s ...  >>> lst = ('apple', 'pizza', 'x', 'joke') >>> print map(both_ends, lst)  ['aple', 'piza', 'x', 'joke'] 

or list comprehension , though me makes bit less readable -

[s[:2] + s[-2:] if len(s) > 4 else s s in lst] 

demo -

>>> lst = ('apple', 'pizza', 'x', 'joke') >>> [s[:2] + s[-2:] if len(s) > 4 else s s in lst] ['aple', 'piza', 'x', 'joke']