How to Find Words Containing a Specific Character in a List
In many programming challenges and real-world scenarios, you might need to find words within a list that contain a specific character. This task might seem simple at first glance, but it’s essential to understand how to do it efficiently and clearly, especially during technical interviews. This article explains different ways to solve this problem using Python, one of the most popular programming languages.
Basic Approach using Loop
The most straightforward way to find words containing a specific character is to loop through the list of words and check if each word has the character. Here is a simple example:
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In this code, we iterate over each element in the words list. For each word, we check if the character is present using the in operator. If the condition is true, we add the word to the result list. After completing the loop, result contains all words with the specified character.
Using List Comprehension
Python's list comprehension offers a concise way to achieve the same task:
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This version is more compact and easy to read. It creates a new list by including only those words from the original list that contain the specified character.
Handling Case Sensitivity
If you want to make the search case-insensitive, convert both the word and the character to lowercase before checking:
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This approach ensures that words with uppercase or mixed case characters are also considered.
Using the filter() Function
Another method is to use Python's built-in filter() function along with a lambda expression:
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This approach filters the list based on the provided condition and can be useful in various scenarios.
Finding words containing a specific character in a list can be done easily with different methods in Python. The most readable is using list comprehension, but traditional loops and filter() are also effective. Remember to consider case sensitivity based on your specific needs.
These techniques form a fundamental part of string and data processing in programming and are often encountered in coding interviews. Understanding and practicing these will strengthen your problem-solving skills and prepare you for similar questions.
