Count Function In Python: All You Need To Know About It

How to Use Count Function in Python?

To use the count() function in Python, you must first have a python list count list or a tuple that you want to count elements. The syntax for using the count() function is as follows:

Explanation:

• The count() function is called on the list my_list.
• The argument passed to the count() function is element 3.
• The function returns the number of times three appears in the list my_list, which is 2.
• The result is printed to the console.

There is another example:

Output:

2

Explanation:

• The count() function is called on the tuple my_tuple.
• The argument passed to the count() function is element 1.
• The function returns the number of times one appears in the tuple my_tuple, which is 2.
• The result is printed to the console.

The count() method is one of the inbuilt functions in Python. As the name implies, it returns the number of times a specified value appears in a string or a list.

In real-time, we deal with statistical functions and financial functions where the number of arguments contains numbers and the number of cells contains numbers too. Hence, the count method helps us immensely.

This method is also used to count numbers in the given set of arrays.

There are two types of methods for ‘count’ in Python. They are as follows:

1. String count() method
2. List count() method

PYTHON String Count() Method:

The count () in Python is used to count the number of times a substring occurs in each string. A single parameter (substring value) is quite enough for execution, optionally the other two values are also available.

Syntax:

string.count(value, start, end)

or

string.count(value)

Parameter values:

Value: This is the substring whose count in Python is to be found. This can be a single character or a substring, which needs to be searched for in the given string.

Start (Optional): This should be an integer, which is the index value to start the search in the given string. By default, it starts from 0, when the value is not given.

End (Optional): This should be an integer, which is the index value to end the search. By default, it is the end of the string. When the end value is not given, it will find values until the end of the string or list.

The count in the Python method returns a number as a return value. The integer value is the return value. When the count in Python returns 0, then it means that the value is not found in the list or string.

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Example 1: 

Code 1:

# this line for declaring a variable and its value

myText = "I love Paris, Paris is my favorite tourist destination"

# this line for calling the count method

numofCounts = myText.count("Paris")

# this line for print output

print("{} number of times".format(numofCounts)) # format is the inbuilt 

function to use join the values.

Output:

2 number of times

In the above example, the count method will search for the word “Paris'' in myText. It will return 2 as an integer value since the word Paris occurs two times in the string. The variable ‘numofCounts’ will get the return value and display the result.

Example 2:

Code 2:

# this line for declaring the variable and its value

myText = "I love Paris, Paris is my favorite tourist destination"

# this line for calling the count method with start and end value

numofCounts = myText.count("Paris",8,20) # 8 is start value , 20 is end value

# this line for print output

print("{} number of times".format(numofCounts)) 

# format is the inbuilt function to use join the values.

Output

1 number of times

In the above example, the same count method searches for the word “Paris” from the specified index value. Here, the count method has two more parameters. The starting search point is the 8th index, and it ends the search at the 20th index value of myText string (“aris, Paris is”). So, it returns only 1 time.

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PYTHON List Count() Method:

The count() method in Python returns the number of elements that appear in the specified list. This method takes a single argument as input. It iterates the list and counts the number of instances that match it.

Syntax:

list.count(value)

Parameters:

Value—The value to be counted in Python. It can be of any type (String, number, list, etc.)

Example 1:

Code 3:

# this line for declare variable and its value

cities= ["Paris","London","New York"]

# this line for calling count method

numofCount =cities.count("Paris") # this is for test data Paris already Exist

numofTestCount  =  cities.count("Rome") # this is for test data Rome not exist in list

# this line for print output

print("{} number of times".format(numofCount)) # one because paris exist in List

print("{} number of times".format(numofTestCount)) # zero because Rome not exist in List

Output

1 number of times

0 number of times

Note that in the above example, the print numofTestCount output is 0, as it received an invalid or non-existent parameter.

Example 2:

Count from even number list:

Code 4:

# this line for declaring the variable and its value

evennumbers= [2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22]

# this line for calling the count method

numofEvens = evennumbers.count(4)

print("{} number of times".format(numofEvens)) # format is the inbuilt function to use join the values.

Output

1 number of times

You might have noticed that the output of print numofEvens was 1, though 2 appears at 12 and 20 in the list. It is because the list only counts the element which matches the data type and the value of the parameter passed.

Example 3:

Count from tuple 

Code 5:

# this line for declare variable and its value

cities = [('Paris',1),('London',2),('Rome',3)] # here we passing Tuple values

numofCounts = cities.count(('London',2))# here we pass only one tuble value . if we pass more tuple values we will face Type Error

print("{} number of times".format(numofCounts)) # format is the in-build function to use join the values.

Output

1 number of times

In the above example, cities denote the list variable that holds a few tuple values. We can find the tuple value with the help of the count method in the list. The numofCounts variable displays 1 since the value was found one time.

When we deal with the list count method, the error possibility in the count method is TypeError. When over 1 parameter is passed, it throws TypeError.

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Practical Applications

The count() function can be used with lists and tuples, which is very versatile. Here are some practical applications of the count() function:

• You are counting the number of occurrences of a specific word or character in a string. If you have a large string and want to know how many times a particular word or character appears, you can use the count() function. Convert the string to a list or a tuple, then call the count() function on it with the element you want to count.
• Checking for duplicates in a list or a tuple. If you have a large list or tuple and want to check for any copies, you can use the count() function. Loop through the elements in the list or tuple and call the count() function on each one. If the count is greater than 1, you know the element is duplicated.
• Finding the frequency of specific elements in a dataset. If you have a large dataset and want to know how many times a part appears, you can use the count() function. Convert the dataset to a list or a tuple, then call the count() function on it with the element you want to count.
• Determining the number of times a certain event occurs in a log file. If you have a log file and need to know how often a certain event requires information about the frequency or occurrence of a specific event or element, you can use the count() function. Loop through the lines in the log file, and call the count() function on each line with the event you want to count.

There are some more practical applications of the count() function in Python:

• Finding the most common element in a list or a tuple:

Output:

Explanation:

• The max() function is used to find the element with the highest count in the list my_list.
• The key argument is set to my_list.count to count the number of occurrences of each element in the list.
• The result is printed to the console.

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Conclusion:

Count() is a Python built-in function that returns the number of times an object appears in a list. The count() method is one of Python's built-in functions. It returns the number of times a given value occurs in a string or a list, as the name implies. In real-time, we deal with statistical functions and financial functions where the number of arguments containing numbers, or the number of cells containing a number, will benefit from the count process. This approach can also be used to count the number of elements in an array.

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