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Min function in Python returns the smallest item from an iterable or from two and more arguments .
Syntax of min function in Python
min(collection[,key])
Parameters of min function in Python
- collection = collection is the list of objects separated by comma or any iterable .
- key = Optional . It is a one argument function that will be applied to every object of the collection or to every item in the iterable . Must be in keyword form .
Return type of min function in Python
It returns the the largest item from an iterable or from two and more arguments .
Examples of min function in Python
Example 1: Get the minimum number from a list of numbers
# Get the minimum number from a list of numbers
min_num=min(10,5,16,34,6)
print(min_num)
5
In the above code we have find the minimum number from the given numbers using min()
function . Here as collection parameter we have used a list of objects separated by comma .
Example 2: Get the smallest item from an iterable
# get the smallest item from a list
min_item = min([10,5,16,34,6])
print("min item from the list is =",min_item)
# get the smallest item from a tuple
min_item = min((10,5,16,34,6))
print("min item from the tuple is =",min_item)
# get the smallest item from a set
min_item = min({10,5,16,34,6})
print("min item from the set is =",min_item)
# get the smallest item from a dictionary
min_item = min({10:1,5:2,16:3,34:4,6:5})
print("min item from the dictionary is =",min_item)
# get the smallest item from a string
min_item = min("32576")
print("min item from the string is =",min_item)
min item from the list is = 5 min item from the tuple is = 5 min item from the set is = 5 min item from the dictionary is = 5 min item from the string is = 2
In the above code we have got smallest item from various iterable using min()
function .
Example 3: Min function with key parameter
# getting the smallest item from a list
# without using key parameter
min_item=min(["2","11","22","3"])
print("min item without key parameter =",min_item)
# getting the smallest item from a list
# using key parameter
min_item=min(["2","11","22","3"],key=int)
print("min item with key parameter =",min_item)
min item without key parameter = 11 min item with key parameter = 2
- In the above code first we have got the smallest element from the list using
min()
function withoutkey
parameter . As"11"
is the smallest item so it returned"11"
. - Then we have used
min()
function with key parameter to get the smallest element from the list . We have used int() function askey
parameter . We do not need to call the function we only need to mention the function name . As a result all the string of the list is converted to integer . Now3
is the smallest integer in the list . So the program returned3
.
Example 4: Get the smallest pair from a list whose multiplication is the lowest
# getting the smallest pair from a list
# whose multiplication is the lowest
# defining the key function
def multiply(mytuple):
multiplication=1
for no in mytuple:
multiplication*=no
return multiplication
min_pair=min([(5,4),(6,3),(7,2)],key=multiply)
print("min pair is =",min_pair)
min pair is = (7, 2)
- In the above code we have defined a function
multiply
which will take a tuple of numbers and muliply the numbers and return their multiplication . - Then we have used this function as the key parameter of
min()
function . Nowmultiply()
function has converted(5,4)
to20
,(6,3)
to18
and(7,2)
to14
. As14
is the largest number so program returned(7,2)
.
Example 5: Use lambda expression as key parameter of min() function
# getting the smallest pair from a list
# whose multiplication is the lowest
min_pair=min([(5,4),(6,3),(7,2)],key=lambda x:x[0]*x[1])
print("min pair is =",min_pair)
min pair is = (7, 2)
In the above code we have solved the previous problem using lambda expression as key parameter .
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