Find the N Minimum Elements in a List

Introduction

In this challenge, you are tasked with writing a Python function that returns the n minimum elements from a given list.

Skills Graph

%%%%{init: {'theme':'neutral'}}%%%% flowchart RL python(("Python")) -.-> python/BasicConceptsGroup(["Basic Concepts"]) python(("Python")) -.-> python/DataStructuresGroup(["Data Structures"]) python(("Python")) -.-> python/FunctionsGroup(["Functions"]) python/BasicConceptsGroup -.-> python/booleans("Booleans") python/BasicConceptsGroup -.-> python/comments("Comments") python/DataStructuresGroup -.-> python/lists("Lists") python/DataStructuresGroup -.-> python/tuples("Tuples") python/FunctionsGroup -.-> python/function_definition("Function Definition") python/FunctionsGroup -.-> python/default_arguments("Default Arguments") python/FunctionsGroup -.-> python/build_in_functions("Build-in Functions") subgraph Lab Skills python/booleans -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/comments -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/lists -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/tuples -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/function_definition -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/default_arguments -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} python/build_in_functions -.-> lab-13695{{"N Minimum Elements"}} end

N Minimum Elements

Write a function called min_n(lst, n = 1) that takes in a list lst and an optional integer n (default value of 1). The function should return a new list containing the n smallest elements from the original list lst. If n is not provided, the function should return a list containing the smallest element from lst.

If n is greater than or equal to the length of lst, the function should return the original list sorted in ascending order.

Your function should accomplish this by following these steps:

Use the built-in sorted() function to sort the list in ascending order.
Use slice notation to get the specified number of elements.
Return the resulting list.

def min_n(lst, n = 1):
  return sorted(lst, reverse = False)[:n]

min_n([1, 2, 3]) ## [1]
min_n([1, 2, 3], 2) ## [1, 2]

Summary

In this challenge, you learned how to write a Python function that returns the n minimum elements from a given list. You also learned how to use the built-in sorted() function and slice notation to accomplish this task.