Check if element exists in list in Python (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 13 Nov, 2025

Given a list, our task is to check if an element exists in it.

**Examples:

**Input: lst = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50], element = 30
**Output: Element exists in the list

**Input: lst = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50], element = 60
**Output: Element does not exist in the list

Python provides multiple methods to perform this check depending on the use cases, some of them are discussed below:

Using in Statement

Python provides an 'in' statement that checks if an element is present in an iterable or not.

Python `

a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

if 30 in a: print("Element exists in the list") else: print("Element does not exist")

`

Output

Element exists in the list

**Explanation: Returns True if the element is present, otherwise False.

Using a loop

We can iterate over the list using a loop and check if the element is present in it or not.

Python `

a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] key = 30 flag = False

for val in a: if val == key: flag = True break

if flag: print("Element exists in the list") else: print("Element does not exist")

`

Output

Element exists in the list

**Explanation:

• "for loop" helps iterate over each element and "if condition" compares it with target value
• flag is used to determine whether else condition gets executed or not.

**Note: This method is less efficient than using 'in'.

Using any() Function

any() checks if a specific element exists in a list and returns True if found, otherwise False.

Python `

a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

flag = any(x == 30 for x in a)

if flag: print("Element exists in the list") else: print("Element does not exist")

`

Output

Element exists in the list

**Explanation:

• **any(x == 30 for x in a): Checks each element in the list a to see if it equals 30. returns true if any element matches.
• **flag: Stores the result (True if 30 is found, otherwise False).

Using count()

count() function checks how many times a specific element appears in a list and returns the number of occurence.

Python `

a = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]

if a.count(30) > 0: print("Element exists in the list") else: print("Element does not exist")

`