`Max`, min

In a list, we do not need to search for the largest or smallest element. Instead we use max and min. The maximum or minimum value is returned.

Argument details

With 2 arguments, max returns the larger of the two. And min returns the smaller. We can use max and min to compare two variables.

`List` example

Max and min act on iterables. A list is a common iterable. We use max and min on a list with positive and negative integer elements.

Here Max returns the value 1000, which is larger than all other elements in the list. And min returns negative 100.

Tip In all uses, max and min return a single value. If all elements are equal, that value is returned.

values = [1, -1, -2, 0]

# Find the max and min elements.
print(max(values))
print(min(values))1
-2

Strings

Consider the use of max and min on a list of strings. An alphabetic sort is used to test strings. The same comparison is used to sort a list.

So The string that is sorted first is the min. And the string that comes last in sorting is the max.

values = ["cat", "bird", "apple"]

# Use max on the list of strings.
result = max(values)
print("MAX", values, result)

# Use min.
result = min(values)
print("MIN", values, result)MAX ['cat', 'bird', 'apple'] cat
MIN ['cat', 'bird', 'apple'] apple

Two arguments

A program has two variables. One has a value larger than the other. We can determine the larger value by passing both variables to max.

Detail This use of max and min is similar to methods like Math.max in Java and Math.Max in C#.

value1 = 100
value2 = -5

# Call max with two arguments.
# ... The larger argument is returned.
maximum = max(value1, value2)
print("MAX", maximum)

# Call min with two arguments.
minimum = min(value1, value2)
print("MIN", minimum)

# If the arguments are equal, max and min return that value.
print("MAX", max(0, 0))
print("MIN", min(0, 0))MAX 100
MIN -5
MAX 0
MIN 0

A summary

With max and min, we search iterables for the largest and smallest elements. We can use these built-in functions to compare 2 arguments and return the larger or smaller one.