Python: Take any number of iterable objects or objects with a length property and returns the longest one

Last update on April 23 2025 12:59:30 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

56. Longest Iterable

Write a Python program that takes any number of iterable objects or objects with a length property and returns the longest one.

Use max() with len() as the key to return the item with the greatest length.
If multiple objects have the same length, the first one will be returned.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

def longest_item(*args):
  return max(args, key = len)
 
print(longest_item('Red', 'Green', 'Black', 'Orange'))
print(longest_item([1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3, 4], [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]))
print(longest_item([1, 2, 3], 'Java'))
print(longest_item({10, 100}, 'Python'))

Sample Output:

Orange
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Java
Python

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program that accepts multiple iterables and returns the one with the greatest length.
Write a Python script to compare several sequences and output the longest one among them.
Write a Python program to take any number of iterables and then determine which has the maximum number of elements.
Write a Python function to iterate over a collection of sequences and return the sequence with the highest length property.

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