PYTHON
Flatten a Nested List of Data
Learn how to effectively flatten a deeply nested list into a single, linear list using Python, useful for processing complex JSON structures or form submissions.
def flatten_list(nested_list):
flat_list = []
for item in nested_list:
if isinstance(item, list):
flat_list.extend(flatten_list(item))
else:
flat_list.append(item)
return flat_list
# Example Usage:
data = [1, [2, 3], [4, [5, 6]], 7]
flattened_data = flatten_list(data)
# Result: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
How it works: This function recursively traverses a nested list. If an element is another list, it calls itself to flatten that sub-list and extends the result into the main flat list. Otherwise, it appends the item directly. This pattern is highly useful for normalizing hierarchical data, such as parsing certain JSON responses or processing user input from multi-level forms into a single iterable sequence for easier processing.