Finding elements not in a list

Question

So heres my code:

item = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
z = []  # list of integers

for item in z:
    if item not in z:
        print item

z<

Answer 1

You are reassigning item to the values in z as you iterate through z. So the first time in your for loop, item = 0, next item = 1, etc... You are never checking one list against the other.

To do it very explicitly:

>>> item = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
>>> z = [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
>>> 
>>> for elem in item:
...   if elem not in z:
...     print elem
... 
8
9

Answer 2

list1 = [1,2,3,4]; list2 = [0,3,3,6]

print set(list2) - set(list1)

Answer 3

>> items = [1,2,3,4]
>> Z = [3,4,5,6]

>> print list(set(items)-set(Z))
[1, 2]

Answer 4

Your code is a no-op. By the definition of the loop, "item" has to be in Z. A "For ... in" loop in Python means "Loop though the list called 'z', each time you loop, give me the next item in the list, and call it 'item'"

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/controlflow.html#for-statements

I think your confusion arises from the fact that you're using the variable name "item" twice, to mean two different things.