How to use the Python reversed() Function

John on June 21, 2021

The reversed() function in Python takes a sequence and reverses its order. The first element will become the last, the second becomes the second to last .etc.

reversed() Syntax

The reversed() function accepts one argument; the sequence to reverse, which could be a string, list, tuple .etc.

reversed(sequence)

Reverse a String in Python

Let's demonstrate how this function works by reversing a string.

string = 'hello'

result = reversed(string)

print(result)

<reversed object at 0x7fd5bf654250>

Just using the reversed() function on its own, we get a reversed object back. To get a string back, we also need to use Python .join() function like this:

string = 'hello'

result = ''.join(reversed(string))

print(result)

olleh

Note – reversed() does not modify the original sequence.

Reverse a List in Python

Here is another example, this time reversing the order of a list. To convert the reversed object back to a list, we will use the Python list() function.

items = ['orange', 'apple', 'strawberry']

result = list(reversed(items))

print(result)

['strawberry', 'apple', 'orange']