Python: Check if two lists contain the same elements regardless of order

Last update on April 19 2025 12:57:45 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Compare Lists for Same Elements

Write a Python program to check if two given lists contain the same elements regardless of order.

Use set() on the combination of both lists to find the unique values.
Iterate over them with a for loop comparing the count() of each unique value in each list.
Return False if the counts do not match for any element, True otherwise.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

# Define a function to check if two lists contain the same elements regardless of order.
def check_same_contents(nums1, nums2):
    # Loop through the set of elements in the combined lists.
    for x in set(nums1 + nums2):
        # Check if the count of element 'x' in nums1 is not equal to the count of 'x' in nums2.
        if nums1.count(x) != nums2.count(x):
            return False  # If counts are not equal, the lists do not have the same contents.
    return True  # If all counts are equal for all elements, the lists have the same contents.
	
# Example 1
nums1 = [1, 2, 4]
nums2 = [2, 4, 1]
print("Original list elements:")
print(nums1)
print(nums2)
print("\nCheck two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!")
print(check_same_contents(nums1, nums2))

# Example 2
nums1 = [1, 2, 3]
nums2 = [1, 2, 3]
print("\nOriginal list elements:")
print(nums1)
print(nums2)
print("\nCheck two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!")
print(check_same_contents(nums1, nums2))

# Example 3
nums1 = [1, 2, 3]
nums2 = [1, 2, 4]
print("\nOriginal list elements:")
print(nums1)
print(nums2)
print("\nCheck two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!")
print(check_same_contents(nums1, nums2))

Sample Output:

Original list elements:
[1, 2, 4]
[2, 4, 1]

Check two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!
True

Original list elements:
[1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 3]

Check two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!
True

Original list elements:
[1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 4]

Check two said lists contain the same elements regardless of order!
False

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program to check if two lists contain the same elements with identical frequencies, regardless of order.
Write a Python program to compare two lists for set equality and then output the common elements and differences.
Write a Python program to verify whether two lists contain the same unique elements after filtering out duplicates.
Write a Python program to determine if two lists are permutations of each other by comparing sorted versions of both.

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