python find if each element of a string list contains any of another string list

Question

suppose I have two string list:

a=['ab','ac','ad']
b=['abcd','baa','bacd','bbaa']

and I want to know if each element of list b has any of strings in a as its substring. The correct result should be: [True,False,True,False]. How do I code this?

Kasravnd · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-19 14:57:34Z

1

You can use built-in function any within a list comprehension:

>>> [any(i in j for i in a) for j in b]
[True, False, True, False]

answered Mar 19, 2015 at 14:57

Kasravnd

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2 Comments

frank Over a year ago

I am a pyhton n00b, can you explain this to me like I am 5

Kasravnd Over a year ago

@alex i in j for i in a generates a series of Boolean objects (i in j which checks if i exist in j) and any does what's explained in documentation on those objects and returns one Boolean object in result. This process repeats with for j in b.

Mathias711 · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-19 14:57:49Z

0

Something like:

[any([i in j for i in a]) for j in b]

would do the trick.

answered Mar 19, 2015 at 14:57

Mathias711

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