>>> a = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] >>> for index, item in enumerate(a): print index, item # enumerate function will generate an index for the item + item it self. ... 0 a 1 b 2 c 3 d 4 e #convert a list to string: list1 = ['1', '2', '3'] str1 = ''.join(list1) Or if the list is of integers, convert the elements before joining them. list1 = [1, 2, 3] str1 = ''.join(str(e) for e in list1) #FIND method str.find(str2, beg=0 end=len(string)) Parameters str2 -- This specifies the string to be searched. beg -- This is the starting index, by default its 0. end -- This is the ending index, by default its equal to the lenght of the string. Return Value This method returns index if found and -1 otherwise. str1 = "this is string example....wow!!!"; str2 = "exam"; # find function will print the position for the first character of the string if it's found! print str1.find(str2); print str1.find(str2, 10); print str1.find(str2, 40); #15 #15 #-1 #2D LIST PYTHON # Creates a list containing 5 lists initialized to 0 Matrix = [[0 for x in range(5)] for x in range(5)] You can now add items to the list: Matrix[0][0] = 1 Matrix[4][0] = 5 print Matrix[0][0] # prints 1 print Matrix[4][0] # prints 5 if you have a simple two-dimensional list like this: A = [[1,2,3,4], [5,6,7,8]] then you can extract a column like this: def column(matrix, i): return [row[i] for row in matrix] Extracting the second column (index 1): >>> column(A, 1) [2, 6] Or alternatively, simply: >>> [row[1] for row in A] [2, 6]