PythonBuilt-in functions
min()
Returns the smallest item in a collection, or the smallest of several arguments.
- Returns
- The smallest item.
Example
#Python
print(min([72, 95, 64, 88]))
print(min(3, 9, 1))
print(min(["Python", "CSS", "HTML"], key=len))
print(min([], default="no data"))Resultsaved result, you can check it
64
1
CSS
no data
Definition and usage
#The min() function takes a collection, or several separate arguments, and returns the smallest item. It compares strings alphabetically, by character code.
The key parameter lets you choose the criterion, for example the shortest string (key=len), or the student with the fewest points (key=lambda s: s["points"]).
On an empty collection, min() raises a ValueError. The default parameter lets it return a chosen value instead.
Syntax
#Syntax
min(iterable, key=None, default=…)
min(a, b, *args, key=None)Parameters
#iterable
a collection
The items to compare, or several separate arguments.key
function, optional
The comparison criterion.default
optional
The value returned for an empty collection.
Good practices
#- For data that may be empty, always pass
defaultto avoid an exception. - The object with the smallest field value:
min(students, key=lambda s: s["points"]).
Related entries
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