How to Compare Two Lists in Python

Comparing two lists in Python is a common task. Maybe you want to check if two results are the same, or see if a list contains the same items as another. In this blog, we'll explore simple and beginner-friendly ways to solve the question: how to compare two lists in python?

Method 1: Use == to Check Exact Match

The easiest way to compare two lists is with the == operator. This checks if both the order and the values are the same.

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [1, 2, 3]
print(list1 == list2)  # True

If the order is different, it returns False:

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [3, 2, 1]
print(list1 == list2)  # False

Method 2: Use set() to Ignore Order

If you don't care about the order of items, you can use set() to compare contents only:

list1 = [1, 2, 3]
list2 = [3, 2, 1]
print(set(list1) == set(list2))  # True

⚠️ Warning: set() removes duplicates. So [1, 2, 2] and [1, 2] will be considered the same.

Method 3: Compare Elements One by One

You can write a small function to compare lists item by item. This is helpful if you need custom rules (e.g., case-insensitive comparison).

def compare_lists(l1, l2):
    if len(l1) != len(l2):
        return False
    for a, b in zip(l1, l2):
        if a != b:
            return False
    return True

print(compare_lists([1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]))  # True

Method 4: Use collections.Counter

This is the most flexible method! It checks if the lists have the same elements and the same number of each.

from collections import Counter

list1 = [1, 2, 2, 3]
list2 = [2, 1, 2, 3]

print(Counter(list1) == Counter(list2))  # True

Counter turns lists into dictionaries that count how many times each item appears.

Summary

Method	Order Matters	Duplicates Matter	When to Use
`==`	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	When you want an exact match
`set()`	❌ No	❌ No	When you only care about contents
Element-by-element	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	When you need custom logic
`collections.Counter`	❌ No	✅ Yes	When order doesn't matter but count does