Python: Return every element that exists in any of the two given lists once, after applying function to each element of both

Last update on April 19 2025 12:57:59 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Union of Lists with Function

Write a Python program to get every element that exists in any of the two given lists once, after applying the provided function to each element of both.

Create a set by applying fn to each element in x.
Use a list comprehension in combination with fn on y to only keep values not contained in the previously created set, _x.
Finally, create a set from the previous result and x and transform it into a list.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

# Define a function 'union_by_el' that takes two lists 'x' and 'y' and a function 'fn' as input.
def union_by_el(x, y, fn):
    # Create a set '_x' containing the results of applying the 'fn' function to each element in 'x'.
    _x = set(map(fn, x))
    # Create a list containing elements that are in 'x' and also in 'y' but only if the result of applying 'fn' to them is not in '_x'.
    result = x + [item for item in y if fn(item) not in _x]
    # Convert the result list to a set to eliminate duplicates and then back to a list.
    return list(set(result))

# Import the 'floor' function from the 'math' module.
from math import floor

# Display the result of applying 'union_by_el' to two example lists using the 'floor' function.
print(union_by_el([4.1], [2.2, 4.3], floor))

Sample Output:

[2.2, 4.1]

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program to compute the union of two lists after mapping each element to a common format using a given function.
Write a Python program to find every unique element that exists in either of two lists after stripping whitespace from each element.
Write a Python program to merge two lists into a union set after converting numeric strings to floats via a provided function.
Write a Python program to compute the union of two lists, ensuring no duplicates, after applying a transformation function to all elements.

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