How to pick just one item from a generator?

python iterator generator python-2.x

Alexandros · Jan 19, 2011 · Viewed 151.9k times · Source

I have a generator function like the following:

def myfunct():
  ...
  yield result

The usual way to call this function would be:

for r in myfunct():
  dostuff(r)

My question, is there a way to get just one element from the generator whenever I like? For example, I'd like to do something like:

while True:
  ...
  if something:
      my_element = pick_just_one_element(myfunct())
      dostuff(my_element)
  ...

Answer

Create a generator using

g = myfunct()

Everytime you would like an item, use

next(g)

(or g.next() in Python 2.5 or below).

If the generator exits, it will raise StopIteration. You can either catch this exception if necessary, or use the default argument to next():

next(g, default_value)