This is a linearSearch code. Instead of returning true how can I return the position of that value?

Question

def main():
  testList = [3, 1, 8, 1, 5, 2, 21, 13]
  print("searching for 5 in", testList,"...")
  searchResult1 = linearSearch(testList, 5)
  print(searchResult1)


def linearSearch(aList, target):
  for item in aList:
    if item == target:
      return True

  return False



main()

Instead of returning true if the value is in the list, how can I return the position of that value?

Answer 1

If you want to keep your code entirely, you can use enumerate for getting index position.

def linearSearch(aList, target):
  for ix, item in enumerate(aList):
    if item == target:
      return ix
  return False 

Answer 2

Use list.index():

>>> testList = [3, 1, 8, 1, 5, 2, 21, 13]
>>> testList.index(5)
4
>>> testList.index(16)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: 16 is not in list

By the way, for checking membership, use in:

>>> 5 in testList
True
>>> 16 in testList
False

Docs: Common Sequence Operations