Streamline Your Python Code with Iterator Chains

Unlock the Power of Seamless Iteration

Photo by Bryson Hammer on Unsplash

In Python, iterator chains allow you to combine multiple iterators into a single sequence. This powerful feature can help you write more concise and readable code, making it easier to work with complex data structures. Let’s dive into iterator chains and explore their benefits with practical examples.

Suppose you have two lists of numbers, and you want to create a single iterator that combines both lists. Instead of writing a loop to merge them manually, you can use the itertools.chain() function from the standard library.

from itertools import chain

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [4, 5, 6]

combined_iterator = chain(list1, list2)

for item in combined_iterator:
    print(item)

# Output:
# 1
# 2
# 3
# 4
# 5
# 6

In this example, chain() creates a new iterator that seamlessly iterates over the elements of list1 and list2 in the order they are provided.

Iterator chains become even more powerful when working with generators. Imagine you have two generator functions that generate infinite sequences of numbers, and you want to create a new generator that alternates between these two sequences.

def even_numbers():
    n = 0
    while True:
        yield n
        n += 2

def…