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Python | Grouping similar substrings in

list
Last Updated : 17 Jun, 2021

Sometimes we have an application in which we require to group

common prefix strings into one such that further processing can be
done according to the grouping. This type of grouping is useful in the
cases of Machine Learning and Web Development. Let’s discuss certain
ways in which this can be done.
Method #1 : Using lambda + itertools.groupby() + split() 
The combination of above three functions help us achieve the task. The
split method is key as it defines the separator by which grouping has to
be performed. The groupby function does the grouping of elements.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate

# group similar substrings
# using lambda + itertools.groupby() + split()
from itertools import groupby
 
# initializing list
test_list = ['geek_1', 'coder_2', 'geek_4', 'coder_3', 'pro_3']
 
# sort list
# essential for grouping
test_list.sort() ▲

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# printing the original list
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list))
 
# using lambda + itertools.groupby() + split()
# group similar substrings
res = [list(i) for j, i in groupby(test_list,
                  lambda a: a.split('_')[0])]
 
# printing result
print ("The grouped list is : " + str(res))

Output : 
The original list is : [‘coder_2’, ‘coder_3’, ‘geek_1’, ‘geek_4’, ‘pro_3’] 
The grouped list is : [[‘coder_2’, ‘coder_3’], [‘geek_1’, ‘geek_4’],
[‘pro_3’]] 

Method #2 : Using lambda + itertools.groupby() + partition() 

The similar task can also be performed replacing the split function with
the partition function. This is more efficient way to perform this task as
it uses the iterators and hence internally quicker.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate

# group similar substrings
# using lambda + itertools.groupby() + partition()
from itertools import groupby
 
# initializing list
test_list = ['geek_1', 'coder_2', 'geek_4', 'coder_3', 'pro_3']
 
# sort list
# essential for grouping
test_list.sort() ▲

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Python | Grouping similar substrings in list - GeeksforGeeks https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-grouping-similar-sub...

 
# printing the original list
print ("The original list is : " + str(test_list))
 
# using lambda + itertools.groupby() + partition()
# group similar substrings
res = [list(i) for j, i in groupby(test_list,
              lambda a: a.partition('_')[0])]
 
# printing result
print ("The grouped list is : " + str(res))

Output : 
The original list is : [‘coder_2’, ‘coder_3’, ‘geek_1’, ‘geek_4’, ‘pro_3’] 
The grouped list is : [[‘coder_2’, ‘coder_3’], [‘geek_1’, ‘geek_4’],
[‘pro_3’]] 

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Python | Grouping similar substrings in list - GeeksforGeeks https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-grouping-similar-sub...

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Article Contributed By :

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Article Tags : Python list-programs, Python string-programs, Python,

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