IndexError: tuple index out of range [Solved]

The IndexError: tuple index out of range error occurs when we tried to access the items in a tuple that do not exist because we are using the index value that is greater than the length of the tuple. The error might be frustrating but it is very simple and easy to solve. In this short article, we will discuss how we can solve IndexError: tuple index out of range error using various methods. Moreover, we will also discuss how to understand errors in Python so that in the future we can easily solve the error:

IndexError: tuple index out of range in Python – Possible solutions

The IndexError: tuple index out of range error is caused by trying to access the element using the index value that is greater than the total length of the tuple. For example, if we have a tuple with 3 elements and we tried to access the 5th element using an index value that does not exist in the tuple, we will face IndexError: tuple index out of range error.

Let us take an example and see how we can face this error:

# creating a tuple
tup = (1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6,7)

# accessing the first element
tup[0]

# accessing the 10th element
tup[10]

Output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IndexError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
/tmp/ipykernel_156831/1284349286.py in <module>
      6 
      7 # accessing the 10th element
----> 8 tup[10]

IndexError: tuple index out of range

Notice that we got the error that says that the tuple index is out of range because the index value is greater than the total length of the tuple.

The error can be solved by the following methods:

• Understanding the indexing in Python
• Using negative indexing
• Using if-else statements
• Using try-except block

Let us jump into different methods to get rid of this error.

Solution-1: Understanding the indexing in Python

To solve the error, we first need to understand the indexing in Python. Remember that the indexing in Python starts from 0 rather than one:

If the tuple has 5 elements then the last element can be accessed by using index value 4. If you will use the index value of 5 for the 5th element, then you will get IndexError: tuple index out of range error because the indexing starts from zero. Note that the last element of the tuple can be accessed by subtracting one from the total length of the tuple.

Let us access the last element of the tuple by subtracting one from the total length of the tuple:

# creating a tuple
tup = (1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6,7)

# accessing last element
tup[len(tup)-1]

Output:

7

As you can see, we got access to the last element using the len() method.

Solution-2: Using negative indexing

Another method that can help us to solve IndexError: tuple index out of range error is to use negative indexing. Unlike, proper indexing, negative indexing starts from -1 which corresponds to the last element.

We can easily access the last element of the tuple using the negative indexing as shown below:

# creating a tuple
tup = (1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6,7)

# accessing last element
tup[-1]

Output:

7

NOTE that the negative 1 corresponds to the last element in Python indexing.

Solution-3: Using if-else statements

Another method to track the error is to use the if-else statements. The if-else statements are conditional statements that are only executed if a certain condition is satisfied.

Here we will check if the index value is less than the length of the tuple, then we can execute the indexing and if the index value is greater than the length of the tuple, then most probably we will get an error so we will not execute the indexing.

# creating a tuple
tup = (1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6,7)

index = 8

# using if statemet to check 
if index >= len(tup):
    print("The index value is greater then the length of the tuple")
    
# else statement
else:
    tup[index]

Output:

The index value is greater then the length of the tuple

Notice that instead of crashing the script, we executed the code successfully saying that the index value is greater than the length of the tuple:

Solution-4: Using try-except blocks

The try-except blocks in Python are used to handle errors. The code inside the try block will be executed first and if the error occurs in the try block then the except block will be executed. Usually, the except block contains a message about the error so that we can handle the error:

# creating a tuple
tup = (1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6,7)


# try block
try:
    tup[10]
    
# except block to handle the error
except:
    print("There is an error in the try block")

Output:

There is an error in the try block

As you can see, we handled the IndexError: tuple index out of range error successfully.

Solution-5: Using the for loop

Another method to print all the elements of the tuple is to use the for loop. The for loop will iterate through the tuple and will print all the elements that exist in the tuple along with their index value.

Let us first use the for loop along with len() method to print the elements along with the index values so that we can use those index values in order to get rid of IndexError: tuple index out of range error:

# creating a tuple
tup = ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd','e', 'f')

# using for loop to find the index
for i in range(len(tup)):
    print(i, tup[i]) 

Output:

0 a
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 e
5 f

As you can see, we printed the elements along with their index values. We can use these index values to get access to the elements. If we will use any index value other than the above ones, we will get IndexError: tuple index out of range error:

Here is an alternative method to find the index of the elements using for loop:

# creating a tuple
tup = ('a', 'b', 'c', 'd','e', 'f')

# using for loop to find the index
for index, item in enumerate(tup):
    print(index, item)  

Output:

0 a
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 e
5 f

As you can see, we got the index values along with the elements:

Understanding the IndexError: tuple index out of range error

Let us now try to understand the error. In Python, the error usually has two main parts. The first shows the category of the error. For example, in this case, the category of the error is IndexError which means there is something wrong with the indexing. The second part of the error gives more specific information about the error. For example, in this case, the second part explains where is the index error which says the index is out of range in the tuple. It is clear that we are using the wrong indexing for the tuple.

What is IndexError in Python?

An index error in Python is an error that occurs when we tried to access the elements from the sequential object using an index that is out of the range. For example, let us assume that we have a list that contains 5 elements. But if try to access the 6th element using indexing, we will get IndexError because the index is out of range:

See the example below to understand the index error in Python.

# creating a list
list1 = [1,2,3,4,5]

# indexing
list1[20]

Output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IndexError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
/tmp/ipykernel_133362/1292321381.py in <module>
      3 
      4 # indexing
----> 5 list1[20]

IndexError: list index out of range

Notice that we got the index error because we are trying to access the element that does not exist in the list. The problem can be solved using the above-mentioned techniques.

How to find the range in Python?

In Python, we can use various methods to find a range. For example, the range() method itself helps us have a range in the specified region. For example see the example below:

# python range
x = range(0, 10)

#printing the range
print(x)

Output:

range(1, 10)

As you can see, we got a range of values. We can use for loop to iterate through each of the elements in this range and then prints them.

Summary

In this short article, we discussed how we can solve IndexError: tuple index out of range error using various methods. We discussed 5 different methods to solve IndexError: tuple index out of range error along with the explanation of each method. Moreover, we also covered how to understand errors in Python.

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