How to Check if Two Lists are Equal in Python?

Python – Check if Two Lists are Equal

To check if two lists are equal in Python, use Equal to comparison operator. If two lists are equal, then equal to operator returns True, else it returns False.

Examples

1. Check if lists: list1 and list2 are equal

In the following program, we take two lists: list1 and list2 with some numeric values. We shall then use Equal-to operator to check if these two lists are equal. We shall use the expression using Equal-to operator as a condition in the if else statement.

list1 = [12, 8, 4, 6]
list2 = [12, 8, 4, 6]

if list1 == list2:
    print('list1 and list2 are equal.')
else:
    print('list1 and list2 are not equal.')

Output

list1 and list2 are equal.

2. Check if lists: list1 and list2 are equal, given elements are not same

Now, let us take the lists such that the second element is not equal, and see what the equal to operator returns.

list1 = [12, 8, 4, 6]
list2 = [12, 7, 4, 6]

if list1 == list2:
    print('list1 and list2 are equal.')
else:
    print('list1 and list2 are not equal.')

Output

list1 and list2 are not equal.

Summary

In this tutorial of Python Examples, we learned how to check if two lists are equal, using equal to operator.