N min elements
Python, List, Math · Nov 2, 2020

Returns the n
minimum elements from the provided list.
- Use
sorted()
to sort the list. - Use slice notation to get the specified number of elements.
- Omit the second argument,
n
, to get a one-element list. - If
n
is greater than or equal to the provided list's length, then return the original list (sorted in ascending order).
def min_n(lst, n = 1):
return sorted(lst, reverse = False)[:n]
min_n([1, 2, 3]) # [1]
min_n([1, 2, 3], 2) # [1, 2]