Python tips - How to easily convert a list to a string for display

There are a few useful tips to convert a Python list (or any other iterable such as a tuple) to a string for display.

First, if it is a list of strings, you may simply use join this way:

>>> mylist = ['spam', 'ham', 'eggs']
>>> print ', '.join(mylist)
spam, ham, eggs

Using the same method, you might also do this:

>>> print '\n'.join(mylist)
spam
ham
eggs

However, this simple method does not work if the list contains non-string objects, such as integers.

If you just want to obtain a comma-separated string, you may use this shortcut:

>>> list_of_ints = [80, 443, 8080, 8081]
>>> print str(list_of_ints).strip('[]')
80, 443, 8080, 8081

Or this one, if your objects contain square brackets:

>>> print str(list_of_ints)[1:-1]
80, 443, 8080, 8081

Finally, you may use map() to convert each item in the list to a string, and then join them:

>>> print ', '.join(map(str, list_of_ints))
80, 443, 8080, 8081
>>> print '\n'.join(map(str, list_of_ints))
80
443
8080
8081